Hawke was almost ready to move. He could feel his muscles unlocking, adrenaline coursing through his body as he tensed to attack. Just another few seconds. If Jess could just hold on a little longer, distract Todd just a bit more . . .
“I can’t take the chance,” Todd said softly, his voice now filled with regret. “I’m sorry, Jess. I just can’t take a chance on you.”
He was going to kill her.
Jess watched as Todd lifted the weapon, aiming it to her stomach. Damn, that was going to hurt. He was going to make sure that he punished her, whether he believed it or not.
“Uncle Craig will have you skinned alive for this,” she snapped.
“Like the Breeds, Craig will have to figure out who did it first,” he informed her, his smile tight and hard. “Unlike some who are in the society, Jess, I believe that sometimes we have to take every opportunity we’re given to destroy the Breeds. You’re his mate. Alive, you still serve a purpose to the Breeds. Dead, you destroy him.”
His arm stiffened.
Jess threw herself across the room, diving for the floor, thankful that at least he was shooting at her, not at Hawke. At the same time, a vicious, enraged howl filled the house.
The whine of the silenced weapon could be heard a second before his screams. A second before the sound of chaos tore through the room.
Stumbling to her feet, she rushed for her purse, her head lifting as she stumbled on the mattress, her eyes widening at the sight that met her eyes.
Animalistic, primal. Hawke had Todd’s neck in the powerful grip of his hand as he shook him. The weapon had fallen to the floor and Todd stared back in horror at the vision of Breed rage.
Hawke’s lips were drawn back from his teeth, his canine’s flashing in the low glow of the tree lights. A howl tore from his lips again as Breed enforcers rushed into the room. Leading them was none other than Wolfe, his expression a mask of fury. Hawke shook Todd again before throwing him against the wall and burying his fist in the other man’s gut.
The air expelled from Todd’s lungs with a gasp. As Hawke stepped back, he crumpled to the floor, gasping, short cries tearing from his throat as he tried to crawl away.
“Hawke.” She moved to him, her hand lifting, shaking, as tears began to fall from her eyes.
He turned on her then. Golden eyes flamed with his rage and a sob shook her entire body. He had heard everything. He had heard her speak of betraying him, of betraying him further. He had heard the lies she told to distract Todd, lies that would be her death sentence now.
“My mate,” he snarled, suddenly jerking her to him, shocking her with the force of his hold and the snarled demand in his voice.
“Hawke.” She whispered his name through her tears as one hand wrapped around the back of her neck, the other gripping her hip as he jerked her closer.
“My mate,” he growled again. “Always mine.”
Before she could affirm or deny, his head lowered, his lips covered hers and his tongue pushed forcefully between her lips.
Immediately the taste of the mating hormone exploded through her senses. It was richer, spicier than ever before. She could feel the burn almost immediately, the explosion of sensation, hunger and need that lashed through her body and drove her to claw at his chest to get closer.
As though the threat of death had pushed him past reason, he kissed her with a desperation she had never known before, a desperation she returned. Their tongues twined, mated, fought and surrendered in a dance as old as time.
When he managed to jerk back she could only sway against him, dazed and uncertain, as she heard the men behind her, heard Todd’s frightened cries, his breathless accusations against her. The details of the plan she had given him, the plan that had never existed.
“Get that bastard out of my mate’s home.” Hawke turned to Wolfe as Jess struggled to turn in his arms. “I want him dead.”
“Quietly,” Wolfe stated, his dark eyes going between Hawke and Jessica. “He’s bringing some serious charges against Jess already, Hawke,” he warned.
“Lies.” His arm tightened around Jess. “The bastard thought I was senseless from the drug he slipped me at the party. He didn’t give me near enough. I was weak, not unconscious. He lies. He bragged of his part in betraying the Breeds and his connections to the pure blood society that attacked in Advert before Jess’s release. I want him taken care of, Wolfe. Permanently. He knows Jess is my mate. He’s been deceitful enough that he’s put together the information on mating. He’s a risk we can’t afford.”
Wolfe stared back at him for long seconds as Jess watched and fought to catch her breath. She felt as though she were falling, as though the strength had seeped from her limbs the moment she realized Todd was pulling the trigger.
“He’ll be taken care of.” Wolfe nodded before turning back to the Breeds that had restrained Todd. “Take care of it, Jacob,” he ordered his second-in-command. “Quietly.”
Todd would never be heard from again.
She watched as he was dragged from the room, kicking, screaming, begging for mercy.
There would be no mercy, she knew. If he hadn’t tried to kill Hawke, if he hadn’t admitted to being a part of drugging her, of attacking Haven, then he might have had a chance of escaping Breed law.
“I’ll need your report in the morning.” Wolfe turned back to them.
“How did you know?” Jess finally found her voice, her brain. “How did you know to be here?”
Wolfe turned his gaze back to her, his eyes penetrating, as though he could see clear to her soul.
“It’s a tradition,” he told her. “We came to hang a wreath on your door, to welcome your union into the pack. That was when we heard your screams and Hawke’s howls.”
A tradition of acceptance. Her lips parted as emotion swamped her and the events of the day began to clash inside her.
“Hawke, I expect your verbal report tomorrow after you turn in the written report,” Wolfe informed him. “Until then, I’ll clear your house out and leave you with your mate.”
She could still hear Todd screaming outside. It was muted, distant, but the sound struck at her heart and left her shaking on the inside.
He had been a friend. Tonight he had toasted to her union with Hawke; he had smiled and wished her every happiness. Hours later, he had tried to kill her.
The door closed behind Wolfe and his enforcers, leaving them alone as Jess moved, pushed herself from Hawke’s embrace and went to the tree.
Kneeling on the floor, she picked up the figurine that had fallen and touched her broken wing carefully.
“She can’t be fixed,” Jess whispered as another tear slipped down her cheek.
Taking the figure from her, Hawke wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her against him. She watched, silent, as he hung the ornament again, the broken wing sending fragments of light glittering around it.
“She doesn’t need to be fixed.” Hawke’s voice was soft, his breath feathering along her temple as she stared at the wing. “She’ll always remind us of what we survived, Jess.”
She bit her lip and tried not to cry.
“I was lying,” she finally bit out desperately, another sob tearing from her chest. “What I told Todd . . .”
Hawke swung her around, his finger pressing to her lips as she saw the surprising crooked grin on his lips.
“Breeds can smell a lie, mate. Have you forgotten that?”
Her lips parted. Yes, she had forgotten that. In the fear and the confusion, she had forgotten that Breeds could smell a lie.
“You knew?” Her breathing hitched as happiness seemed to flood her. “You knew I was lying?”
“I knew you were fighting to hold on until I could get my bearings.” He touched a tear on her cheek, wiped it away. “I knew you were saving both our lives the only way you could, baby. You didn’t hurt me. I never once believed otherwise.”