Newmar, Lola - Devlin's Beast [Scarlett Rose and the Seven Longhorns 5] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (5 page)

All she could do was softly shake her head, afraid at first to open her mouth while her chin trembled with painful emotion. “I can’t, Daddy.”

“Get out! Both of you!”

Once again, Scarlett’s world collapsed around her as she watched her father roll over to the intercom on his desk and press the talk button.

“I’m going to prove it to you.” She wiped the tears from her eyes, devastated but not defeated.

“Security! Security, I need two people escorted out of my office
now!
”

* * * *

Alisa waited until Charlie wheeled himself completely out of the room, his head mournfully hanging, before she turned her attention back to her mother and Todd. Charlie had obviously been brokenhearted from Scarlett’s decision to choose her seven cowboy lovers over him. He would likely spend the rest of the afternoon alone, just as he did on the anniversary of his wife’s untimely death.

Dasha had her arms crossed in front of her as she shook her head in disgust. Mother wore a black silk blouse and white twill pants, both Lagerfield pieces, and matching black stilettos that could easily serve double-duty as a pair of shanks. “I don’t trust for a moment that little whore is going to keep her nose out of our business.”

“Me neither,” Alisa agreed, picking up her phone from where Todd had placed it beside him on the chair he sat in. She unlocked the phone screen and was met by a photo Todd must have taken by accident when he had tried to turn her ringer off. Her mother was mostly cut out, but it showed Alisa, Dasha, Charlie, Scarlett, and the cowboy all screaming at the camera, their mouths wide and eyes flaring with anger. It was a pretty unflattering photo for them all, if she were honest with herself. But just as she went to delete it, something very unusual in the photo caught her eye.

“Can you two come here?”

Dasha and Todd were instantly on either side of her, looking over her shoulder at the image.

“What’s that in Scarlett’s mouth?” Alisa squinted her eyes and brought the screen in closer for a better look. “It’s something on her tongue.”

“I’ve never noticed that before,” said Todd, his face puzzled.

“Me neither.”

“It’s like a half-circle or something.” Dasha snatched the phone from Alisa’s hands. “It looks like a crescent shape.”

“Well, it’s obviously some more of that voodoo shit she’s been into lately.” Alisa snatched the phone back from her mother’s grip and began to dial the first person that had come to mind. “I’m calling the Darque brothers. We know by now that they are likely the real deal shape-shifters just as well as those rednecks.”

Just when she expected the call to go to voice mail, Jameson, the eldest, answered the phone, his voice horse and sexy. “Hello?”

“Hi, Jameson.” She heard the flirtatious purr in her voice. Todd sulked deeper in the chair, obviously noticing the tone himself but as always much too pussy-ish to really do anything about it. “This is Alisa—”

“Look, Alisa,” he interrupted, “I’ve already told you diaper scenes aren’t what I’m really into, but—”

“Baby scenes,” she corrected softly, not able to hide the disappointment in her tone despite having had this conversation with him just days ago.

The beautiful man with the beautiful voice didn’t hear her and continued. “—I really do appreciate your offer.” He then muttered something. For a second there, she could have sworn it was “and persistence”—no, no, that wouldn’t be it.

“I’ve called about something else, actually.”

There was a dramatic pause. Jameson groaned as if irritated before politely taking the bait. “What else have you called to talk about, Alisa?” Though his voice was a tad softer, she could still sense the struggle in it.

She ignored it and smiled. “It concerns a group of seven longhorn shape-shifters.”

Jameson was silent. He was listening.

She then enunciated each of her English words slowly, lowering her voice just an octave. “Shape-shifters like you and your four brothers, Mr. Darque.” Alisa averted her eyes from the vintage David Onica painting on the wall. She briefly wondered if Charlie was aware he’d hung the piece upside down. “Seven men from a town around here. Now I need you to tell me exactly what you know about them.”

He hesitated as if unsure he could trust her with any information. “Their family name is Lenox.”

“Lenox…” Her tongue rolled around the soft loops of the name’s pronunciation as she slowly repeated it back. She visualized the seven Lenox men ripping off her wedding gown until she stood completely naked and sweaty before them.
Alisa Lenox would be an epic name.
The visual was gone in the blink of an eye, so she focused her attention on listening to Jameson.

“I heard they may have found a mate to share, but that’s all I know.”

“And is that what you’re doing here in Dallas, as well? Searching for a ‘mate,’ as you say?”

The sound of a tea kettle whistled in the background on Jameson’s side then stopped suddenly. More skeptical silence. “I’d rather not discuss that,” he finally replied.

Aware his answer may depress her for the rest of her mid morning, she decided to accept his answer and cut to the chase. “Can I e-mail a picture to you? I want to show you something I took a picture of that I have questions about.”

“What’s the picture of?” he asked robotically but, again, politely. He loudly sipped on something.

“Well, that Lenox mate you heard about?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“I know her pretty well. We’re practically family.”

“By blood?” he asked with sudden excitement.

“No, I’m marrying her father.”

He grunted, and his bored indifference returned.

“I have a picture here that shows something on her tongue that wasn’t there before.”

“Like…” He swallowed loudly—
nervously?
“…A big cock?”

His words were slow and nervous, and she knew then that he was hoping for her to say it was something else. Something he’d been searching for.

She laughed and didn’t stop until her abs hurt. “I wish. It’s something else.”

Jameson snapped his fingers at someone before mumbling something. It was obvious his hand was covering the phone as he spoke to an unknown second person.

He returned then sweetly asked, “So what
is
on her tongue, Alisa?” Another sip.

“A crescent moon shape.”

It sounded like Jameson choked on some kind of beverage after spitting it out in animated shock. “Two million dollars, right now, if you tell me where they are keeping this woman.”

Alisa smiled at the desperation in his voice. “Supply and demand is a wonderful thing. Don’t you think so, Jameson?”

“More? How ’bout three? Three million for the address?”

“I don’t want your money, Jameson.”

Silence. He was likely confused. She waited for him to take the bait again, waited for the singsong sound of a what-do-you-want, but he said nothing.

“I just want you to give me your word that this little bitch will be gone, far away from here...
for good!”

Dead silence.

Did he hang up?

“Once she’s in our hands,” he finally said with childlike excitement, “she’ll no longer be your concern.”

Chapter Five

Devlin had been driving for a half hour as they rode in complete silence, and the scent of her despair was heavy in the air of the pickup. After the disaster that had just happened in Charlie’s study, saying they were both in a shitty mood was the greatest understatement of all time.

A little detour would perk them both up, if only for the night. He needed to escape to the world he’d come to find comfort in for so many years now.

Whipped Cream was only a few more minutes away, and just the thought of that alone had relaxed him. He loved his mate dearly, but she’d unknowingly emasculated him in her father’s office when she tried to prevent him from protecting and standing up for her. He understood that Scarlett was a natural-born leader and independent woman, but for Devlin, it was imperative that his mate respect and adhere to his role as her protector and lover. Scarlett needed to be taught a valuable lesson. She needed to learn that he needed to do his job as her lifelong mate and that not even she was allowed to stand in his way.

He adored the way Scarlett seemed eager and happy to please him, the foundation for a perfect submissive in the making. However, she had a long way to go in terms of allowing herself to fully surrender the control she’d held her entire life. Lesson number one would start tonight.

“I’m not in the mood anymore.” Scarlett’s voice was so soft Devlin almost had to strain to hear the words. “Take me home. I’m too tired for any more heavy stuff in my life today.

He slowed the pickup down as they pulled into the crowded, fenced-in parking lot behind Whipped Cream.

“Please, Devlin. Just take me home.” She looked over at him with a tear-stained face and defeat in her eyes. “I just want to forget about Dallas forever.”

Devlin reached over and squeezed her hand affectionately. “Scareltt, I need you to trust me, okay? Just give me five minutes, and if after that you want to leave, then we’re gone, no questions asked. Deal?”

* * * *

When Scarlett held Devlin’s thick, hard arm in hers as they walked the familiar path to the entrance of Whipped Cream, her body reacted with a sudden moisture between her slick pussy lips. The sullen mood that had soured her spirits just moments ago quickly evaporated into something fearful yet tantalizing.

Although she’d walked into those doors just a couple of days before with Rhett, there was no doubt this visit would be a much different experience with Devlin in charge. But any woman would feel nothing but protected and secure when holding the muscular arm of a tall, dominant cowboy.

When they entered the club, Devlin immediately led them to a side door she’d never noticed before, tucked away into a corner to their immediate left when they walked into the club. She followed Devlin down a dark, spiraling staircase, his giant hand holding hers firmly. At the bottom of the staircase was a long hallway of rooms. It seemed several minutes passed before they reached the end of the long hall. Devlin stopped in front of a door identical to the others, dark royal blue with a black metal door knob. He reached into his fitted Wranglers and pulled out his keys before inserting one in the lock.

“You have your own room here?”

Devlin pushed the door open to reveal a pitch black room. “I have my own everything here.”

He spoke and moved so casually around the club that it was obvious he’d been here several times. Scarlett wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Knowing her mate had sex with other women in this very place caused a fist of anger to tighten within her chest. Yet that same knowledge, all the experience, skill, and talent Devlin had gained over the last several years at Whipped Cream, got her pussy wet.

Scarlett gasped when he flicked on the light switch next to the doorway. The dim lighting revealed a small but luxurious room that resembled more of a millionaire’s guestroom than an overnight stay at a hardcore sex club. Most of the room was dominated by a four-post, king-sized bed. The polished cherrywood was hand carved in intricate, swirling patterns. It looked lush and inviting, and she almost wanted to ask her big cowboy if they could skip the festivities and swim in the sheets all night long instead. But the idea that dozens of other people were having sex just a few walls away had her anxious to go along with his plan all over again. The air’s seduction was like magic to her body, and she realized her nipples had been hard since they’d walked in to the building.

The elegant, midnight-blue bedding coordinated with the dark walls and dark-blue-and-gold loveseat in the corner of the room. Large, antique mirrors adorned the entire room, an enormous one even mounted on the ceiling. It looked much too heavy to be hanging in that way, but it did look incredibly exciting and beautiful.

“I wanted a little space of our own while we’re here.” Devlin stepped from behind her and began to unbutton his Western shirt as he walked toward the closet in the far corner of the luxurious room. Scarlett looked on in amazement as he easily dropped his tight jeans to his ankles, his hard, jutting erection revealing he'd decided to forgo underwear that morning when he’d dressed himself. She quickly closed the door and locked it.