A Fang in the Sass: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Sassy Ever After Book 6) (11 page)

TWENTY-SIX

Standing along the sidewalk outside the clan’s main house, Aria watched her fucking badass mate hurry to join the cleanup crew taking away bodies. Damn, he looked fabulous with little on. She so wanted a bite of that tight ass.

“Aria, dear,” Maree said, “we need to get busier than a one-legged cat in a sandbox.”

Aria turned to her. “What? A one-legged cat? Maree, do you make this shit up?”

The elder laughed hardily. “Only to confuse you, dear. You’re so damn funny when you don’t have a clue what I say. Penelope, too. She thinks I don’t know about her faking, but I do.” The woman let out another laugh and headed with Aria to the group. They had a lot to do to get the small clan back on track.

Aria’s butt cheek vibrated. She slapped a hand on her back pocket and pulled out her phone. She’d forgotten she had it. ID read Penelope. Shit, what now?

“Pene, what’s up?”

“Aria, you’ve got to come home immediately. The High Council has made a decision and it’s not good.”

Her happy attitude went down the toilet. “What do you mean, not good?”

“Just that. I’ll tell you more once you get here. We’ve arrived at the house. You’ve got to come now, Aria.”

She looked around for her guards. “Okay, Pene. I’m on my way. See you shortly.” Turning to the group, Aria frowned. “I’m sorry, folks. Something’s come up and I have to fly back now. I’ll give you a call when I’m ready to help get things on track once again. I’m really sorry.”

Maree patted her on the back. “No problem, dear. The job of a clan leader is never done. We got this.” She held a fist up. Aria had no idea what the woman was doing. “Come on, little girl. Are you that out of it? Put your fist up.” Arid did as directed, and Maree gave her a fist bump then walked away, mumbling about kids not knowing what the hell was going on in the world.

If Aria wasn’t so stressed over the call from Penelope, she would’ve laughed her ass off. As it was, she turned and yelled out for Marxius and Wynther. Both men hurried to her. Good. They needed to get going. She looked around for her mate. Didn’t see him, but saw one of his guys taking pictures with his phone.

“Marxius, Wynther, will you get our stuff from the guesthouse? We need to fly north immediately. We have an emergency at home.” Both guys rushed toward the house, and she headed toward Trevan’s friend.

“Roen, right?”

His face broke out in a smile. “You’re my best friend’s mate now, I hear. Congrats.”

Aria gave him a hug. Totally not her. Great. Her mate turned into the superbeast of beasts, and she’d become a marshmallow. Oh well. She wasn’t giving up Trevan for anything. She awkwardly stepped back.

“Yeah. Would you relay a message for me to Trevan when you see him next?”

He looked at his phone and pushed icons. “Better yet, my best-friend-in-law, I’ll record you giving the message.”

Best-friend-in-law? She needed to watch this one. He seemed a bit loopy. The phone lifted in front of his face and he said go.

“Uh, Trevan, mate, love. Penelope called and said I needed to come home right away. Something is going on with the High Council and it’s not good.” Behind her, she heard her two guards approach and stand at her back. “We’re leaving now, and I’ll call you when we land. We’ll figure out what to do about this down here a bit later.”

She glanced at those around her. “If any of you laugh at what I say next, I’m going to rip your tongue out.” She turned back to the recording phone. “I love you.” Her eyes narrowed, pretending to listen for any hint of a titter.

Roen lowered the phone. “Got it. I’ll show him as soon as I see him next. And just so you know, I’ve documented everything we’ve seen in the last twenty-four hours as evidence, if you need it. Hopefully you won’t, but it’s here.” She hugged the man again. Ugh, what the hell was wrong with her?

“Thanks, Roen. We gotta go now.”

In record time, Aria and her guards were on the private jet and rolling down the runway. She put her phone in airplane mode and dropped it in the seat next to her. In the air, she was too nervous to sit, so she paced the aisle. Whatever the hell was going on in Spain needed to end. This entire legal action was a farce. Next, they’d charge her with killing Damon. Bunch of bullshit.

Calm. She needed to calm down before she did something stupid. Opening the cockpit door, she leaned against the frame.

“Hey, guys. How’s it going?”

Marxius gave her a disgruntled look. She rolled her eyes. “Give me a break, Marx. Just because I’m not seatbelted in doesn’t mean I’m going to die. You’re getting to be just like an old mother hen.” She smiled at her metaphor. She couldn’t see old Marxius with feathers stuck to his body.

He grumbled and turned in his pilot’s seat. She laughed. “Okay. I’ll sit down. Happy now?”

“No,” was his reply, but she saw his grinning face reflected in the plane’s windshield. She closed the narrow door and then plopped into her seat. She rested her head against the back of the seat and sighed.

Next thing she knew, Marxius was on the intercom telling her they were landing. She must’ve fallen asleep. When was the last time she slept? Not that she needed a lot, but her body was partially human and needed occasional rest.

She tossed her phone in her overnight bag and made sure her seatbelt was fastened. Minutes later, they were on the highway headed to the house. And she was keyed up with anger, fear, and readiness to be done with this shit already.

They slowed to pull into the circle driveway and parked in front of the porch. The three climbed out as Penelope, Julius, Zane, and another man she had never seen exited the front door. Her trio of mentors didn’t look happy.

The man stepped off the porch toward her. “Aria Valderi, I am placing you under arrest for the murder of Filip Ataturk.”

She jumped back from the man invading her personal space. “Who the fuck are you to put me under arrest?” He moved forward. “One more step and I’ll gut you like I did Filip.” The man paled even more than he was. Maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say to him.

Julian answered. “That is Juan Alonso de la San Angelo. The High Chancellor for the council. He has the authority to take you to Spain to meet the council.” Yup, that definitely wasn’t the best thing to say to him.

“You mean be a prisoner to the council,” Aria spit out. She looked at Penelope. “You called me back here for him to arrest me?”

“I had no choice, Aria. If he had to go after you, he has the right to kill you for just telling him he’s full of shit, which he is.” Aria saw the corner of Pene’s lips quirk up. What the fuck?

“Okay, fine. Tell me what’s going on before I do or go anywhere,” Aria said.

Again, Julian answered. “Mr. Dickhead, I mean, Mr. Angelo or whatever the fuck your last name is, has authority to require you to report to the High Council for questioning. He also has authority to destroy you if you try to escape. So for god’s sake, child, don’t do anything stupid until you are out of his hands. Then do whatever you can to the bastard.”

Aria smiled at the man standing before her. “Seems you’re not liked much around here, John.” She hoped her use of his equivalent American name irked him.

His eyes narrowed. “Matters not. You have been deemed a flight risk. You are to come with me to kneel before the council. Restraining you is senseless if you come along voluntarily. If not, I have the right to destroy you.” His face turned smug.

“Flight risk? Yup, you are full of bat dung. Fine. I’ll go quietly, as they always say on TV.” She headed toward the house. The man grabbed her arm; she nearly came undone. “Remove your hand or I will remove your arm from your body.” He snapped his hand away, but didn’t back down.

“We are to go now.”

She huffed. “I can’t even pack a bag? Do you want me to wear the same clothes the entire time?”

His face broke into a smile. “I don’t have to give a shit, and I don’t. Get back in the truck.” He pointed to her newer guard. “Wynther, drive us back to the airstrip. We leave now.”

Since when did a high and mighty chancellor know the name of a peon security guard?

The bastard reached for her again and she growled at him, as did Marxius. The chancellor stepped back and gestured toward the SUV. Against her better judgment, but with no other choice, she climbed onto the middle seat to be joined by the prick himself.

“You even have to sit by me. You really do care. I’m touched.”

He slammed the door shut and Wynther shifted into
drive
. She couldn’t believe this was happening. When she got to Spain, she’d tell the council about everything and bring in the evidence they’d collected and they’d release her. She debated if she wanted to make a big stink about all this harassment. She’d prefer to get home to her mate more than anything else.

At an intersection ahead of them, an SUV pulled onto the road and headed their way. She felt a pull on her soul toward the vehicle. Strange. She’d never experienced that before. Her thoughts turned to Trevan. Was she feeling his nearness? That was impossible. She left him with the South clan an hour ago. There was no way he was here now.

She needed to call and let him know what was going on. She pulled her bag onto her lap from the floor and took her phone out. It was still in airplane mode. Before she could key in her passcode, the chancellor yanked it from her hand.

“We’ll have none of that,” he said. Aria reached out to snatch it back, but the ass held it out of her reach like a big kid holding a toy over his head so the shorter kids couldn’t get it.

“I need to make a call,” she argued.

“Maybe later. We’ll be there soon.” She sighed and sat back in the seat.

Shortly after pulling onto the highway, she noticed Wynther glance into the rearview mirror at her captor. The bastard returned a slight nod of his head. Had she not been looking for it, she would’ve missed it.

The SUV slowed and made a turn into the warehouse facility where she had a building for storage. The same facility where she had killed Anton when she found him as part of Filip’s trafficking team. What were they doing here?

“We’re making a little pit stop. Hope you don’t mind, Your Highness.”

She gave him a disgusted look, but didn’t reply. Maybe her title would remind him of his place.

They stopped out front of her warehouse. “Why are we here?” she asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Juan said. “Just get out.”

That shocked her, but hey, she’d get out if that’s what the man wanted. As she stood with her back to the truck, she heard a familiar sound.

The
pfft
of a tranq dart leaving the gun’s barrel. 

TWENTY-SEVEN

Trevan dumped the last vampire onto the pile to be taken to the cremation facility. He wiped his forehead and looked around for Aria. Hopefully she and the others had some time to get things figured out. He didn’t see her so he figured they went inside the house.

“Hey, Trev,” Roen called. “Got a message for you from your mate.” That got his attention. Roen played the video for him. Halfway through, he snatched the phone from his friend’s hands.

“How do you stop this thing?” He punched at buttons on the screen until the video froze. He looked around. “Alain. Alain, come here now.” He saw several people move and his cohort jogged out from the group.

“Yeah, Trev. What you got?”

He handed Alain the phone. “Tell me who you see.”

Alain looked at the screen and frowned. “Isn’t that our contact we met at the bar the other night?”

He gave a nod. “That’s what I thought. He’s dressed like Marxius, which means he’s posing as her guard.” Trevan turned and pulled at his hair. “Fuck.” He took off for his truck faster than he thought possible. Nearly ripping the door off its hinges, he opened it and dug around for his phone.

With all the calm he could muster, he dialed her number. The cell rang and rang then went to voicemail. Fuck. He tried again. Same voicemail. Motherfucker!

Maree came up behind him. “What’s wrong, Trevan?”

“It’s Aria. One of her guards is a contact for the ones trying to kill her. I just saw him standing with Marxius on a video message.” Roen held up his phone. He wanted to throttle his friend for not recognizing the guard, but he remembered Roen stayed in the truck while he and Alain went inside to meet with the man. “I’ve got to get to her.” He started to climb into the truck.

“Wait,” Maree said. “Take our private plane. It’ll get you there in an hour or less.”

He was shocked. “You have a private jet?”

Maree laughed. “You don’t think Filip drove any distance, do you?”

His heart leapt for joy until he remembered almost the entire clan was dead. What were the odds of the pilot being alive?

Maree turned and called a lady over. “And we happen to have a pilot, right here.” Trevan would fall to his knees and praise whatever god gave him this favor. “Trevan, this is Renee. She’ll get you to Aria as fast as possible. She’s a great pilot.”

“Great,” he said. “Get in and let’s go.” Along with Renee, Alain and Roen piled in, then they were off. Sooner than he could’ve hoped for, they were in the air, heading north. “How far behind are we if they left forty-five minutes ago?”

Renee looked at her dashboard. “I’m putting it at max speed which will put us about fifteen minutes behind them. Just pray we don’t hit a bird or something.”

“Why’s that?” he asked.

She smiled at him. “Because at five hundred miles an hour, even a bug can shatter a windshield.”

Five hundred miles an hour. Fuck.

“I need to make one phone call. Is that possible?”

“Sure.”

He was barely off the phone—he actually made several calls, all but one were to Aria’s phone—when Renee told them to buckle up for landing.

Waiting for them on the tarmac as they promised, Tristan and Barbara Wolfe waved as the plane taxied to the terminal. After exiting the plane and heading toward the Wolfes, Trevan saw the alpha wolf was not happy. Not one bit. The older man stood with fists on his hips. Trevan started to apologize for all the hassle, but the alpha raised a hand to stop him.

“I only have one question for you, Trevan,” the bigger male said as he looked Trevan up and down. “Why in the hell are you wearing a weird-ass diaper?” Roen and Alain, along with Barbara, busted out laughing. He felt his entire face heat.

Tristan tossed a pair of sweatpants at him. “As you requested, something for you to wear.” The alpha laughed. “I should’ve gotten a picture of that. Who knows when I might need your services and can use it for leverage.” Tristan slapped Trevan on the back. “Good to see you again. Let’s go. Explain on the way.”

Flying along the interstate, Trevan changed into the cotton sweatpants. Having the alpha around was really nice when it came to security and getting on the road quickly.

“Tristan, I can’t thank you enough for helping out at such short notice and so late.”

“That’s never a problem, Trevan. You can always call us for anything. I can never repay you enough for what you’ve done for us.”

Trevan knew he had a trusted ally in the Wolfe pack. He would give his life to protect all the men and mates in the family. He took the next few minutes to tell the Wolfes about all that had happened since the alpha challenge.

Close to the house on Cherry Hill, they passed a vehicle. Immediately, Trevan felt a pull on his soul. He’d never experienced that before and would ask Aria about it when they got to the house. He prayed the guard hadn’t carried out any deadly plans.

As they pulled into the driveway, tires squealed on the concrete. The front door flew open and the woman he recognized as Penelope hurried out. Where was Aria?

Before the SUV came to a full stop, he had the door open. “Where’s Aria?” Julian and Zane stepped through the door.

Penelope looked confused. “She left with the chancellor from Spain.”

Now he was confused, but didn’t have time to explain. Alain could fill them in. “Where are they headed?”

“Back to the airport. Aren’t you Trevan Stone?” Julian asked.

By then, Trevan was halfway around the front of the SUV. “Tristan, I need to borrow the truck.”

He was inside and driving away when the alpha wolf said, “Okay.”

He now understood what that pull he felt was. Aria was in the vehicle they passed. Her mate bond called to his.

When he pulled onto the highway, two vehicles were in front of him. Both were a good distance away. He quickly caught up and passed a crimson car. He didn’t feel the pull, so he pushed on. The other vehicle had to be the one with his mate.

He stayed at a distance and tried to figure out what to do when they got to the airport. Should he play it cool, then jump the guard? And now that he had a second to think, why were they headed back to the plane? Aria must’ve forgotten something. No, Julian said something about the council in Spain.

The brake lights of the vehicle in front of him flashed, then it turned at a familiar place. Ah, he remembered. This was the place he was supposed to drop off two teenage girls Filip was taking. He had a bad feeling about this.