Sapphire (Rare Gems Series) (15 page)

The first image appeared in her mind,
and she looked at him. When they started to flow past her vision quicker and
quicker, she knew it was him. He was sending her memories of their time
together. The one where he was mounting her from behind as a wolf, then the one
where his wolf had licked her until she came made her grip him tighter to her.

“You liked that didn’t you?” She nodded,
unable to form a word. “My wolf did as well. He knew what you were before we
did, and he wanted his mate. Would you let him do that again? Lick you until
you come hard again?”

“Yes.” Sapphire closed her eyes tighter and
brought up her own memory of what he’d done to her, and felt Blair’s need
double. “We should find a place to fuck. I need you inside of me now.”

“We can’t, not yet anyway. Fuck, I want
you.” He reached behind her and held her as he fucked her against the truck. She
felt it move behind her and wondered if he’d tip it over as hard as he was
thrusting into her. “Come. Come now before I fucking explode.”

Throwing back her head, she let out a
primal howl that curled her toes as her body did just what he commanded her to
do. She knew Blair was going to bite her and tilted back her head to give him
whatever he needed as another powerful climax tore through her. When he sank
his teeth into her, she screamed out his name. Sapphire held onto Blair as
tightly as she could when he tore at her flesh and scarred her.

He continued to rock in her as her body
shuddered through several smaller but powerful climaxes. She looked up at him
when he lifted his head from her throat. She nearly came again when she saw the
blood on his lip and licked it from him.

“You’re going to hurt when we get home. I’m
not going to be gentle, and when I run you down, your wolf is going to hurt as
well. There is no fucking way I’m going to be able to be gentle with you.” She
smiled at him as he helped her stand up. “I’m in pain, love.”

She cupped his cock again, and he
grabbed her wrist. “I could take you into my mouth and help you.”

“You take me into your mouth and we’re
going to get arrested. And I’d just as soon not have to explain why my wife and
I were arrested for indecent exposure.” She didn’t hear anything he said past
wife and seemed to know it. “I have something for you. I wanted to wait until
later, but I want you to have it now.”

He reached into his pocket and handed
her a little blue box. She didn’t take it right away but kept her hands fisted
until he opened her left one and put it there. Sapphire was afraid to open it.

“Whether you open it now or later you’re
going to have to give me an answer.” She nodded at him, and he laughed. “I’m
sure that it’s not going to be often that I render you speechless, but it does
have its merits.”

He took the box from her and opened it.
He’d done it in a way that she’d not seen the contents. But when he dropped to
his knees before her she wanted to tell him to get up before someone saw them.
Stupid, considering that she had no such qualms just moments ago when she was
screaming out his name in the best climax she’d ever had.

The ring slipped onto her finger just to
the second knuckle. She could see a wide band but nothing more. When she looked
at him, she felt herself fall deeper in love with Blair and wondered if she’d
ever not want to toss him to the floor and have her way with him.

“You keep looking at me like that and
all my good intentions are going to go out the window.” He cleared his throat
as he continued. “Sapphire Erickson, will you please do me the upmost honor in
becoming my partner in life? My mate in all things and my equal in our pack?
Will you marry me and become my wife and partner in that way, as well?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing.” He
grinned and kissed her hand before sliding the ring all the way on. “I didn’t
say yes.”

He kissed her when he stood up. “No, you
didn’t, but you didn’t say no, either. Come on, let’s get this over with so I
can take you home and make love to you all night and into the morning.”

They entered the big building that
looked from the outside like a large hotel. But in reality it was a huge
holding place for rogues that were either awaiting trial or had been sentenced
and were there to serve whatever the courts had assigned them whether it was
death or life in a silver-lined cell. Most of the time they were simply put to
death, and Sapphire knew that when everything came out about Jeffery, he’d be
on that list as well.

They were shown to a large room. She’d never
been there before either and was nervous about the large silver loop that was
in one corner of the room. There were no windows in this room, and it was
devoid of all furniture. There were three cameras hanging high on the walls,
all of them pointing at the hook in the corner. There was only the one door
other than the one they’d entered from, and both were covered in silver. A
human had let them in five minutes ago.

She and Blair said nothing but held hands
waiting for whatever was to come. She could feel that he was nervous as well,
and when the other door opened, both of them jumped slightly. She had a feeling
that not only had the guards seen them, but Jeffery as well. She was sure of it
when he spoke after being chained to the loop.

“So, the big, bad Sapphire is afraid of
a little sound. Oh my, how the mighty have fallen.” She didn’t comment on the
fact that he was the one chained up, not her, as he continued. “What the fuck
do you think you’re doing here? Come to testify on my behalf?”

“Not fucking likely since I’m part of
the reason you’re here.” She smiled when he snarled at her. “Now, how does it
feel, Jeffery, to know that you at one time had it all and now you’re reduced
to nothing more than a silver-lined room with chains on your ankles and wrists?
You can’t even shift if you want to.”

“You’d be surprised at what I can still
do, my dear. Just you wait and see. What the fuck do you want?” She leaned
against the wall and stared at him. She had no idea what she’d come for to be
honest.

Chapter 15

Sapphire had had this long list of
things she’d wanted to ask Jeffery. Things she’d wanted to say to him as well. Blair
knew because he’d seen her write them out on the way there. He’d hoped that
she’d realize that he wouldn’t give her anything but lies and more questions
that she’d have no answers for. Sapphire stared at Jeffery until he looked at Blair.

“So? You’ve hooked yourself up with the
Erickson family. You’ll regret it. Fucking her won’t get you what you want
because I’ve made sure of that.” Blair didn’t say anything, nor did he change
his expression. He’d learned to be good at bluffing when he’d been in college
and playing poker with the richer kids. It had helped support him during his
leaner years.

Jeffery seemed to grow angrier at him
because he wasn’t playing along. Blair didn’t care. He could wait all day if
need be. Blair hoped that if he turned to Sapphire, and he was sure he would,
he’d get the same blank stare until the man completely lost it. This was going
to be epic.

“Don’t you want to know what I’ve taken
from you?” Still nothing from Sapphire, so Jeffery looked at him again to try
and get him to ask him what the hell he was talking about. “Surely you want to
know. You want to know what I’ve so perfectly taken from you that you’ll never
get back.”

The longer they stood there staring at
him, the madder he got until he finally snapped. When Jeffery snarled at them
to ask what it was, the guard that had been standing just behind them stepped forward
with a long club in his hand. He’d raised it high in the air to no doubt put Jeffery
back in line. Blair stopped him with a raised hand.

“Whatever it is you think you’ve taken,
I surely hope you enjoy it. For the next few days at least. Because, from what
we were told, that’s about all you have left in this world before they take you
out back and shoot you with a silver bullet.” Jeffery lunged at Blair, but he
wasn’t finished yet. “We’ve taken your pack, your brother has now become
enforcer to Sapphire, and once you have been declared dead to us, and I might
point out to you that has already happened as far as we’re concerned, we’ll
gain all you left behind.”

“You lie.” Jeffery looked at her, he
supposed for conformation. But she didn’t say anything to him. But when he
lunged at her, she moved just within his reach and stood there.

Blair wasn’t sure what she had in mind
but didn’t let the guard interfere. The smile on his face was a little odd, but
Blair held him back. She needed this; whatever it was, she needed this to
settle things between the two of them. When he backed off from her stare, Blair
let go of his pent up breath. He knew she could handle herself, but that didn’t
make him any less afraid for her.

“Do you know what I hate most about
you?” He backed up another step, and she took one forward so that she was now
within the length of his chain. “I hate a great deal about you, but there is
one thing that I can’t stand about you.”

She waited, and Blair had to bite his
inner lip so he wouldn’t laugh. She was turning the tables on Jeffery by making
him ask her for answers. Jeffery moved back from her as far as possible. The
guard stepped forward as if to take charge, and Blair moved in front of him and
let a little of his wolf go. The man backed off.

“What are you talking about?” He glanced
back at Sapphire and Jeffery just as the guard moved back. And if he hadn’t, he
might have missed what happened next. He knew for as long as he lived he would
never forget it.

Jeffery lunged at her, and since she was
close enough for him to touch, he raked his hand down her face. The shift from
human to wolf was instantaneous; one second Sapphire was standing there, and
the next she was a snarling fucking pissed off wolf. She stood on her hind legs
and hit Jeffery with her entire body.

He tore the chains from his hands, and
Blair had a second, no more than that, to think that he shouldn’t have been
able to do that when the ones around his legs came lose as well. Jeffrey shifted
into his wolf, but he was no match for Sapphire. She had him pinned to the
floor before his wolf was fully formed.

Sapphire went for his throat, and Jeffery
couldn’t get away quickly enough before she had his wolf down and her mouth
over his exposed throat. The smallest move on his part would have her ripping it
out. Blair looked at the man who was supposed to be guarding them and hit him
square in the face. He fell to the floor in a heap. The fucking prick had
helped him hurt his mate.

Blair moved to where Sapphire and Jeffery
were and crouched down to speak to him. This wasn’t going to end well for the
idiot. Blair smiled; nope, not going to end well for either man, including the
one that was bleeding on the floor with a uniform on.

“You paid him off somehow.” Jeffery
blinked at him. “You can speak to me. With my mate no doubt tasting your blood,
we have a connection now. Did you pay off the guard?”

Yes. Get her the fuck off me or so help
me I’ll—

“You’ll do nothing unless you want her
to tear your throat out. She may yet, but for now she’s going to get the
answers she wants.” Blair ran his hand down Sapphire’s head and over her back. “Ask
him, love, whatever it is, ask him so that we can both hear.”

Why did you hurt my family? Why did you
make our life so difficult while we were members of your pack?
Blair waited
with Sapphire, and when the door opened behind them and three guards walked in,
he stood up and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You come in to do anything other than
to pick up that piece of shit and you and I are going to have a go around. And
just so you are all aware, I’m itching to kill someone.” The front guard took a
step back and bumped into the others as Blair continued. “I don’t care if it’s
you or him, but somebody’s going to pay for him almost getting my mate harmed.”

“The operator, the one at the desk, has
been…he’d dead. The president of the Board came in just as the she-alpha was
jumped, and…and the president snapped his neck like it was nothing but a twig. The
president said to tell you he’s got your back, sir, and we were to…we were to
do whatever you said.” He swallowed hard and looked at Sapphire. “He said for
us to do what you wanted or he’d let her deal with us. You won’t do that, will
you? We’ll do everything…she took him down without your help at all.”

“She did, didn’t she? I’m quite proud of
her actually.” He kicked the first guard that was just beginning to stir. “I
want to press charges against him. Benetton here just admitted that he’d paid
this one off. I’m assuming he did the same to the operator as well.”

It took the three of them to drag the
man out, and when the guard woke again, just as they were clearing the hall,
Blair heard the president of the Board speaking to him in low tones. He was
telling him what was going to happen to him for harming an alpha of good
standing, as well as what he was going to have to expect for aiding a criminal.
Blair only half listened because he wanted to be with Sapphire.

He moved back to where she was and heard
the tail end of something spewing from Benetton’s mind. The man must want her
to kill him was all he could think. He crouched down and touched her again,
needing the contact with her more than ever. Blair could not wait for this shit
to be finished.

“If you don’t learn to control yourself,
I’m going to do to you what the president has done to your accomplice. I would
really enjoy snapping your neck like a twig, just so we’re clear on that.” Blair
looked at Sapphire and could see her hurt, and wondered what the fuck the man
had said to her. “Benetton, I’m going to take great pleasure in killing you.”

She said she’s some sort of alpha and
that she’s always been stronger than me. I think she’s full of—
Benetton
screamed, and Blair let go of the laughter he’d been holding
. She’s fucking
going to kill me.

“I would think that’s a fair assumption.
It’s well within her rights as alpha to kill you for attacking her. And don’t
even tell me that you had no idea what she was. Harris already told us that you
knew she was alpha, and your sole purpose was to destroy her. I think that you’ll
welcome the bullet over what she can do.”

Admit it, you fucking bastard.
Blair heard
Benetton scream again when Sapphire screamed at him.
Admit you tried to kill
me all those years ago, and I’ll let you go.

All right. Christ, all right, I tried to
have you murdered. I tried everything in my power to have you fucking ended,
but no matter what I tried, you’d land on your feet. Then I thought if I killed
off the others you’d be so devastated that you’d simply crawl into a hole and
I’d be able to finish you off once and for all. But you had to come back, you
had to just do the opposite of what I’d had set up for you. This is entirely
your fault.
She let him go, and when he didn’t move, Sapphire moved back well beyond the
boundaries of the chain. Not that it mattered; he’d long since gotten free of
it even if he’d ever been chained in the first place. She sat there as Blair
moved back toward her, but before he could move, he was being knocked aside and
his head hit the wall hard. Then nothing at all.

~~~

Harris watched the alpha and his mate as
they paced the big office. He could hear them speaking, but not what was being
said. He was too nervous to try to concentrate anyway. He knew he’d only hear
something he didn’t want to, so he thought of anything and everything other
than what was going on in the office.

He’d been here for nearly four days, and
no one had said anything about his brother. Not that Harris cared at that point,
but with all the other things coming out into the open, he was afraid that
Sapphire wouldn’t want him to be there any longer, and he’d be without a pack. Not
to mention the thought of not protecting the big alphas made him sort of sick
to his stomach. He had to protect them.

For as much as Harris hated his brother,
he loved him as well. He was his only living relative, and though they’d never
seen eye to eye on a great many things, especially things concerning the
Erickson family, he was still blood. When Harris had been asked to come to the
pack house, he’d packed up what little belongings he’d had and had them sitting
in his car. He thought about what he’d heard three days ago and his conversation
with Blair.

“You’ll need to go and get whatever you
have at the house. As of yesterday the Board has taken possession of it as well
as the contents. There will be a guard at the house that will go with you to
take what belongs only to you.” Harris nodded and sat down. “There are things
going on that I cannot discuss with you, but I promise you that when I can tell
you, I will find you and let you know.”

Harris nodded but didn’t ask what he
really wanted to know. “I didn’t live at the big house with my brother. I did
have a smallish place. If I could go there and get some of those things, I’d
very much appreciate that. There isn’t much, but it’s mine.” Blair nodded.

“I’ll have one of the others take you
over. I’m not sure if you had any monies coming to you either. Can you remember
when you were last paid and what you were paid?” Harris had shaken his head
before Blair had finished speaking. “You don’t remember?”

“I was never paid. Jeffery said that he
was giving me food and a roof over my head. That was good enough for me.” Harris
asked before he could think, “Do enforcers get paid for keeping someone safe?”

“Yes. You’re putting your ass on the line
daily. It’s the least someone can do for you.” Harris didn’t know what to say
so said nothing. “Harris, did Jeffery have any accounts that you knew about? Money
in some bank that paid his pack members for working in his home?”

“He didn’t pay anyone as far as I knew.
If he did, it wasn’t much. I thought…I guess we all thought we were lucky to
have a pack at all, much less get paid for it. At least that’s what he always
told us.” Harris had waited for more, but Blair had told him he’d contact him
in a few days. And this morning a message had been sent for him to be here.

At ten before ten, Sapphire came out and
asked him to join them. “We have a few things to tell you, and some
things…well, come in and we’ll get this squared away as quickly as we can.”

Harris was overwhelmed, and he was
pretty sure they knew it. And unlike his brother, they didn’t make him feel
like his feelings weren’t justified or valid. He sat in the chair that Sapphire
had pointed to and looked across the big desk at Blair. She handed him a bottle
of water, which he took with a shaky hand.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Blair nodded, and
Harris felt the weight of the world lifted from his shoulders. “I’ll leave if
you wish. I was actually afraid to do so before now. But with Jeffery dead, I won’t
have to be looking over my shoulder every ten minutes to make sure he’s not
there with a knife to ram in my back.”

Harris stood up and moved back. He
stopped when Blair said something, and he turned to ask him what he’d said.

“I said, are you leaving the pack for
any other reason other than your brother being dead? Is it because Sapphire
killed him? I assure you it was him or me, and I’m glad she stepped in. But
there was no choice in the matter.” Harris looked at Sapphire, then at Blair as
he continued. “Of course, you’re welcome to leave. I’d never think of making
you stay where you didn’t want. But we’d very much like you to be a member of
our pack.”