Mate Set (23 page)

“I can’t scent that you’re his mate but if he bit you then it’s just a matter of time.

You are going nowhere.” He released Grady’s face carefully, allowing his head to

slump, and then he bent. “I got him.”

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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

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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?”

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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.”

“Son of a bitch,” he rasped, his eyes going wide. “It didn’t take.”

It took her a second to understand what he was saying but then she did. “We’re not

mated?”

His mouth tensed into a line and for some reason he didn’t look happy about that

as he took a deep breath. “No. You’re marked by me, that scent is strong, but your scent

is still there under it. If the mating took, it would be totally replaced by mine.”

Mika didn’t know how to feel. Part of her was relieved. It meant that she could go

home after Grady was out of heat so he wouldn’t resent and hate her, but another part

of her grieved. She was going to lose him for sure. She carefully sat down on the bed,

refusing to look at his face, as she reached for the firm, hard flesh pointing straight up

his abdomen.

“I guess we don’t have to worry about deals anymore,” she said softly. “Now I

know you’ll let me go when this is over.”

“Mika―”

“Don’t talk to me, Grady. I’m going to take care of you and you’re going to be silent

until we’re released from this damn cage.”

“Mika, we need to―”

She licked her lips, bent and took Grady’s cock into her mouth. He groaned,

whatever he was about to say lost as she worked him, sucking on him. She moved fast,

nearly removing him totally from between her lips and then taking him as deep as she

dared, lifted as she sucked hard, then pushed down again. The sounds Grady made

were loud as he panted and groaned. She cupped his balls with her hand, feeling how

hard and taut they were, drawn close to his body, and she knew he was going to come

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fast. The second she realized he was going to, she released him completely,

straightening up, and wrapped her hand around his thick shaft to finish getting him off.

She watched Grady throw his head back, his body arching, and he snarled as he

came. Her gaze lowered and she watched him shoot out his release with each hand

motion she made, drawing it out until his body relaxed and he stopped spilling his

semen. She released him and bent, grabbed the sheet off the floor, and dropped it over

his lap as she stood, moving away.

“Now you don’t need me for a few hours.” She walked to the bars, gripped them,

and stared out.

His breathing slowed within minutes. “Mika, we need to talk. We need to―”

“You need to shut up if you want me to touch you in two hours.” She lifted her

wrist, twisting it to show off her watch. “That’s the deal, Grady. You keep silent and I’ll

attend to you when you need me to.”

He sniffed and softly growled. She closed her eyes, pressing her forehead to the

bars. She knew what he smelled and she recognized that damn growl. She was turned

on, was always affected by the sight of his naked body and touching him, and he

usually fucked her when he uttered that type of growl he’d just made.

“Come here, Mika. I can take care of you.”

She took a deep breath. “No thanks. I’m not in heat. I’m just fine, and again, shut

up.”

“You can put your knees beside my shoulders and grip the wall and fit over my

face,” he said softly. “I want to taste you, babe.”

Her eyes snapped open. “Damn you,” she spun, glaring at him. “You think I’m

going to let any part of my body near your damn mouth again? You bit me and you left

me bleeding, huddled in a room, terrified that you were going to come after me and kill

me. You didn’t even give a shit enough to make sure I was alive.”

Something flashed in his eyes. “I knew you were fine and I smelled your terror so I

left to give us both a chance to calm.”

“Fine. You stick with that bullshit excuse of why you abandoned me. Shut up,

Grady. I really don’t want to talk to you.”

He watched her but he didn’t speak. She was stuck with Grady until his damn

family released them.

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Chapter Fourteen

Elroy was grim as he unlocked the cage door. Mika was in the far corner, definitely