Walk on the Striped Side (23 page)

“For whatever reason, Councilman Holden is gunning
for your sister as his brother’s killer. You’re going to need someone with some
serious power to go in there to vouch for you and these pictures.”

“Well, where the hell do we get this person, Kent?”
Gage snarled in anger.

“You’re looking at him, you bad tempered bastard.
Follow me and keep your mouth shut.”

Not waiting to see if they would respond to the vague
bomb he’d just dropped, Kent spun on his heel and started walking at a fast
clip towards the large, closed, heavy wooden doors that separated them from the
council. The very same doors that the butler who’d escorted them into the
waiting room had informed them would be useless to try and open because only
council members or legacies, which were demons who’d been invited to join the
council, could open them without suffering the pain of death via a nasty spell
cast by an extremely talented witch.

And there was Kent, about to grab that door handle
like he didn’t have a care in the world. Did he not know about the death spell?

Slightly panicked for the demon’s life, Elena called
out a warning as she watched his hand extend towards the knob. “Don’t touch—”

The rest of her warning came to a screeching halt as
Kent grabbed the knob, turned it, and flung the door open so that it swung wide
and banged loudly against the wall behind it. The voices that had been
obviously arguing among the
inhabitants
seconds before
were silenced at his dramatic entrance.

Stepping forward into the room, she and Gage followed
him until they stood directly behind him in the middle of the floor with two
long, polished wooden tables on either side of them. Both tables were full of
councilors except the table on the left seemed to be short one member since
there was an empty seat. The room was dimly lit and shadows filled the corners
and edges, casting a sense of mystery and caution. The back wall was painted
from top to bottom with a mural that depicted demons in some kind of battle
against each other.

Elena didn’t have time to examine the room any
further, though, because her attention turned to Kent when he started to speak.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the Ninth Circle Council, I
could be polite and say it’s a pleasure to see all of you, but I’d rather not
waste time with lies.” Waving the pictures up in front of him, he continued,
“It’s been brought to my attention that Councilman Holden has pressed charges
against feline shifter, Lulu Ivanov, for the murder of his brother, Andrew. As
per the laws that this Council laid down over a thousand years ago, charges can
be placed on hold pending a thorough investigation if acceptable evidence of
reasonable doubt is presented in favor of the accused. I hold such evidence.”

Murmurs flew wildly on both sides of the room,
however they were immediately overwhelmed by the belligerent voice of one man
at the end of one of the tables, who stood from his chair and pointed at Kent.
“You have no right to be here and present evidence. You’ve neglected to assume
your family’s ancestral Council seat.”

A few of the demons agreed with the man’s objection
while others argued loudly against him.

Kent held up his hands and the room quieted. “The lot
of you have worked long and hard to get me to either ascend to my family’s seat
or appoint another to take it. You’re right, I’ve avoided making that decision
for quite some time, but the fact is that the seat is still mine if I choose to
claim it, which means I still have every right to come in here and present
whatever evidence or argument that I want to until the time comes that I have
relinquished my seat to someone else. These pictures show your dead brother’s
wife with her lover, whom Lulu Ivanov is claiming is the real killer. Will you
look at them, Councilman Holden, and consider the evidence?”

“I refuse to consider any evidence from a man who has
spit on his obligations to his family and this council. You should leave now
and take the trash you brought in with you.”

Gage growled at the slight and started to step
forward, however Kent held a hand up and stopped him.

“You won’t consider the evidence I vouch for because
I’ve yet to make a decision on my seat?”

“What’s your word worth?” Holden spat at him
viciously. “You have no honor.”

Kent snorted and then looked from Holden to the other
side of the room where the vacant seat sat. “If that’s how you want to play it,
then you can enjoy the repercussions of pushing me too far.”

Kent left us in the middle of the floor as he walked
to the empty seat. Elena felt the room as a whole hold their breath in
anticipation of what he would do.

Placing the pictures on the table, Kent then reached
into his pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. Flicking it open, he circled the
enormous, ornate chair until he stood behind it and held his hands up for all
of them to see. In one hand he grasped the knife, and in the other, he held his
palm open wide in front of it.

“Upon my duty as one of the descendants of the Nine
Circles of Hell, I assume my family’s seat and the responsibilities of such on
this Council.” Slicing his palm open along what palm readers would call his
lifeline, Kent watched for a second as the blood flowed freely down his hand
and then he grabbed the middle of the top of his chair with his bloody hand.
Elena gawked in fascination as his blood seemed to soak into the chair instead
of dripping down it as she had expected it to, almost as if the chair was
consuming it.

It seemed as though Kent and this council had a lot
more going on behind the scenes than she could have ever imagined. When Kent lifted
his hand back up and showed it to the room in some kind of demonstration that
only the other demons would understand, his blood on the chair was gone and his
palm had already healed itself. The sight of both things was enough to baffle
Elena’s brain for the next twenty years.

In a clear, controlled but booming voice, Kent spoke,
“And my first act as Councilor is to submit this evidence and order an
immediate reprieve in charges against the accused, Lulu Ivanov, pending a
thorough
and
honest
investigation.”

The room erupted into chaos and Gage looked at Elena
with a smile of satisfaction she couldn’t help likening to the Cheshire Cat.

CHAPTER-TWENTY-SEVEN

Gage

Now this was a motherfucking party.

Adam’s little bar was packed with
his family, Elena’s sisters, his unit, some of the McPhee Pack, that annoying
vampire from Germany, and the man and woman at the center of the celebration;
Lulu and Kent. His sister was sitting at the bar with Babushka, taking
celebratory shots of vodka. Was her ordeal entirely over? No.

As they were leaving, Councilor
Holden had warned them that this was far from over. Not to mention the whole
council seemed frazzled and were already arguing amongst themselves over the
pictures they’d left. Kent had basically bought them time to get either a
confession or substantial evidence against the man Lulu was accusing to clear
her name once and for all. It wasn’t the perfect solution, however it was a
temporary
band-aid
that Gage would gladly accept.

Who knew that Jenna’s SWAT partner
was such a big wig in the demon world? The guy had always come across as a laid
back, pretty boy to Gage. He would have never guessed that under all those
smooth pickup lines and blue collar, bulletproof vest was an influential member
of demon society. Kent was a classic case of appearances being deceiving.

He was extremely grateful to the
man for coming to their rescue yet a bit worried about what Chloe had bargained
with in order to get his help. He wasn’t the only one who was worried, either.
His mate stood next to him, cuddled into his side, as they both watched the duo
in a corner of the room as Kent taunted Chloe in such a way that it caused the
crazy, high maintenance woman to point a finger in his face and flay him with
her words. That pair was a disaster waiting to happen.

The only thing more worrisome than
those two? Elena’s younger sister, Delta. She’d walked into the bar, taken one
look at Rhett Baines, and had fallen underneath the vampire’s playboy spell.
Even now, out of the corner of his eye, he could see the two sitting at a table
in a dark corner sharing a drink. It was a good thing Elena hadn’t seen that
yet. He didn’t feel like holding her back from trying to kill the vampire when
he’d much rather be enjoying the booze and the fun.

Elena was already a bit tipsy from
her third Jack and coke, and he had to admit to loving the side effects of his
woman being just a tad wasted. She kept pointing out and giggling at the
silliest things, such as his brother trying to do the caterpillar on the small dance
floor. Gage wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or just her good mood in general,
however it had affected her scent. She smelled more like chocolate chip cookies
instead of chocolate spiced with chilies, and his mouth was practically
watering to taste her in every way.

Jenna shouted Elena’s name and
waved for her to join her over by the jukebox, so Gage reluctantly let his
delicious smelling mate go so that she could get to know the Alpha female a
little better, but he snarled at a man who checked out Elena’s ass as she was
walking away from him.

Moving back to the bar, he ordered
another drink and bumped his shoulder against his sister’s in a playful push.
“Feel better now, sister mine?”

Lulu’s drunken smile was a little
wobbly and a little sad. “Yes and no, brother mine. I’m grateful that Kent
could help my case, but I’m still worried about the outcome. I loved Andrew and
it slays me that anyone would accuse me of killing him.”

He draped his arm across her
shoulders and leaned in so that they could speak in lower tones. “I understand
that, and I hope you won’t hate me for saying this, but Andrew wasn’t worthy of
you.” She stared to protest and he shook his head to shush her. “Any man who
can’t see the value of you as a mate and just wants to use you is not worthy of
your time. Trust me. Take your time to heal, but don’t give up. There’s someone
out there for you.”

She threw back her shot of vodka.
“Let’s get my head off the chopping block before we worry about my love life,
okay?”

Babushka butted into their
conversation. “Gage has life of his love now. He should worry about putting his
batter of baby in his woman’s womb.”

Gage went cross-eyed at trying to
keep his grandmother’s mixed up speech straight in his head. “Do you mean baby
batter, Babushka?”

“Da. Now is the time to think of
batter of the baby,” she said, smiling coyly.

“We just mated. Why are you so
obsessed with great-grandchildren already, grandmother?”

Babushka’s smile stretched widely
across her face. “Because she is heated.”

It took Gage a minute to realize
what his grandmother was really saying. “You mean, she’s in heat?” he
whispered. Granted, human women, or even Amazonians for that matter, weren’t
like shifters to go into an actual heat, but he understood what his Babushka
was trying to say. Elena was at her most fertile right now.

“
Da
, my boy!” she shouted in
excitement.

Gage opened his mouth to ask
something else but ended up tackling his sister and grandmother to the floor
when the sound of gunshots rang out in the room. Five shots were fired, and the
moment the sounds ceased, Gage was up on his feet and racing towards where he’d
last seen his mate. She was still there, however she was also the one holding
the handgun, pointing it at the floor with a very angry Alpha McPhee now
standing in front of her.

“You crazy bitch, you could have
shot my mate!” Adam thundered.

Gage slid to a stop behind Elena
and wrapped a protective arm around her waist. He reached forward and pried the
gun from his mate’s hand before she could do something reckless in anger, like
shoot Adam since he was yelling at her. He saw that Jenna was physically trying
to push Adam out of her way, though she was failing miserably.

“Get out of the way, you big
bastard! Did she get it?
Did she fucking kill it
?” Jenna shouted
excitedly.

Gage shook his head at the little
wolf’s antics. Jesus, these women were nuts. Thankfully he was only responsible
for one of them.

“What is she talking about, Elena?”

She turned in his arms and gave him
fevered and frantic eyes. “It was that humongous spider again! I’m telling you,
Gage, that damn thing is the size of Texas and he’s following me. I have a
stalker spider!”

He stared back at his mate in
abject horror. She’d shot up the place over a spider?

“She’s not lying!” Jenna yelled. “I
saw that freaky, little bastard and he was definitely watching her.”

Adam growled. “Get your mate out of
here, Ivanov, before she gets her hands on another gun and accidentally shoots
somebody.”

Gage wasn’t one to normally take
orders from a flea-ridden wolf, yet this time, his tiger agreed with the man.
He bent down, put his shoulder into Elena’s stomach, and then picked her up in
a fireman’s carry. When she started to struggle, he popped her hard on the ass,
and she shrieked in surprise. The whole room erupted in catcalls and applause
as he carried her out of the building.

He stumbled a few steps when he
walked off the curb, but managed to catch his balance without dropping his mate
on her head. Maybe he’d had a bit more to drink than he’d originally thought.
Had the bartender handed him a second bottle of whisky after he’d finished the
first?

Elena was smacking his ass and
saying something that sounded a little like ‘beating his booty,’ but he could
be wrong. When they reached his truck, which was parked in the dark parking lot
behind the bar, he set her down and opened the door for her.

“Get in, woman.”

“Are you ordering me around again?”
she challenged.

He swayed a little on his feet.
“Yes. Ass. In. Truck.”

She poked him in the chest with her
finger. “If you want an ass in the truck, all you have to do is get in
yourself.”

All this talk about asses and his
truck was getting him horny. He grabbed her by her hips, swung her around and
pushed on her back until she was bent over with her chest on his seat.

Looking down at the sweet curves of
her backside, he purred, “Speaking of ass in my truck.”

“You wouldn’t! We’re in public,
Gage,” She panted.

Grinding his throbbing shaft
against her, he agreed, “You’re right. I can’t take your ass out here in the truck.
That requires lube, but I sure as hell can fuck that sweet pussy, Amazon. I bet
you’re wet for me already, aren’t you? If I unbutton these skin tight jeans,
will the smell of your pussy overwhelm me? Let’s find out.”

He unbuttoned, unzipped and pulled
her jeans over her ass along with her panties, so that she was bare to him. The
smell of her need was overwhelming and he wondered if it was because she was
that turned on or if her heat had anything to do with it. Either way, it didn’t
matter. Nothing mattered other than his need to taste that exquisite cream she
was making for him and him alone.

He dropped to his knees behind her
and spread her legs as wide as they would go inside the jeans that had her
trapped and then started licking. Long, slow licks from the top of her clit and
over the petals of her pussy.

Elena was softly moaning with the
first touch of his tongue, but she had her head buried in the seat of the
truck, screaming by the tenth stroke. He loved her screams and whimpers; all of
those sexy little sounds she made for him when he was sliding his tongue in and
out of her before licking her up and down again. His lips were covered in her
cream now and the smell and taste of her had made him harder than he’d ever
been in his life.

Unable to wait any longer, Gage
stood up behind her, unzipped his jeans and took his cock out. As he slid his
already weeping tip up and down her opening, his conscience niggled at him
about taking her without a condom and not telling her. She was in heat and he
wanted her bare. It’s not like he had to worry about sexually transmitted
diseases since he was shifter, and while her heat meant she was fertile, the
truth was that it was still hard as hell to conceive cubs. The chances were
slim that he would get her pregnant this one time.

The tiger roared in his head. The
beast wanted their mate swollen and sultry with their cubs and demanded he stop
debating what nature intended.

Gage’s conscious nagged at him some
more, though, and he was about to pull away and talk to her about it when the
unexpected happened. Elena shoved herself back and took him to his base. He
groaned in approval.

She was wet, hot, tight and
squeezing him with her muscles. His rational thoughts about cubs and heat
completely disappeared and basic instinctive need took over.

Gage knew he was a little out of it
because of the alcohol, and he didn’t want to accidentally hurt her, so he
tried to keep his thrusts slow and easy. It allowed him to enjoy every slow
slide and that little noise she made in the back of her throat when he seated
himself fully inside of her. Those noises were addictive, though, and his tiger
wanted to hear more of them, and louder, so he increased his speed, yet it
wasn’t enough for him.

She was starting to shudder all
around him, her walls fluttering against his cock, but her face was still
buried in that seat. He wanted to hear her. Hell, he wanted the whole bar to
hear her and what he was doing to her. Then they could all know how only Gage
alone could pleasure this bold woman, and that she was meant for him alone.
That line of thought was probably the very reason she kept calling him a
caveman.

His hand wrapped in the silken
strands of her hair and pulled her head back. She was now arched in front of
him, her face twisted to the side as he held her there, allowing him to see her
passion-glazed eyes and clearly hear her loud moans of satisfaction.

His eyes zeroed in on her
unblemished neck and the tiger once again roared in his head, demanding to see
their mark there. Gage felt his fangs lengthen in his mouth in anticipation of
what he was about to do. He wasn’t going to wait another second to give Elena
her mate bite.

He surged inside her faster, his
balls now loudly slapping against her clit as he bent over her back and placed
his mouth near her neck.

“You’re about to come all over my
dick, mate, and when you do, you’re going to scream my fucking name, do you
understand me?” he snarled.

Elena wailed, “Yes!”

He used his free hand to reach
forward and grab her breast in his firm grip. The hold helped him pull her body
back into his own as he hammered into her. Her body was trembling, her breath a
raspy pant, and he could see that her hands were clawing at his truck seat.

“Please,” she begged him, saying
the word in a litany that was music to his ears. “Please, Gage, give it to me.”

“Tell me you’re mine.”

“I’m yours!” she cried.

“Tell me you want my mate mark,” he
demanded as he slid his hand from her breast down to cover her clit. She bucked
her body wildly at his touch there.

“I want your mark!” she screamed
desperately.

Those were the words he wanted—no
needed—to hear.

He circled two of his fingers over
her clit and it pushed her over the edge. She convulsed around him until her
sheath was practically strangling his cock as she screamed his name with a
broken voice.

Taking care not to bite her in a
way that could be fatal, he sunk his teeth into the flesh where her shoulder
and neck met. Her blood filled his mouth as he released the grip he had on her
there at the same time that she came a second time, screaming his name.

The base of his spine tingled and
his balls drew up tight until it was almost painful. When she clamped down on
him one last time, he roared in his pleasure and buried himself inside of her
to empty his seed into her womb.