Red Satin Lips, Book One (The Surrender Series) Read online

  “Not that I’m aware of. It would be feeling…uncomfortable to take another if one is already mated. It’s just not done.” Lars stripped off his shirt and shoes before he climbed onto the bed.

  Laying her in the middle of their bed, Gage stripped down to his pants, letting his clothes fall. “Why do you ask?” Gage asked joining them on the bed.

  Ignoring her attempts to stop them, Lars and Gage both stripped her clothes off her and tucked her under the covers.

  “I want to go to my mom’s house. I need to go,” she took a deep breath. “If your brother had a mate maybe she is seeking revenge for his sleep. Maybe she was the one who woke him?”

  “You’re changing the subject, but it doesn’t matter because you’re not going there.” Lars stared down at her and realized how pale she was. “When was the last time you fed?

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t remember, maybe yesterday. I’ve eaten, but this discussion isn’t over. I’m going. I’m all she had. I need to see to things, Lars, not strangers. This I won’t argue about. I’m warning you both now. Don’t make me choose, because there is no choice. I owe this to my mom and you both should understand that.”

  Lars looked up at Gage, who sighed and nodded. “Fine, we’ll go, but not today Tamara. Let your father take care of your mother right now. Tomorrow the three of us will go.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

  A soft knock on the door drew their attention. Making sure she was covered, Lars walked over to the door knowing it was her father. As soon as he opened the door, Lars could tell by the look on his face that it wasn’t good.

  Her father looked to the bed and shook his head as Gage gathered Tamara up in his arms, holding her while she cried. He stepped out into the hallway with her father.

  “How bad?” he asked and at once Lars saw the pictures in his head.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it, but your grandfather said he has. He’s still there and Alton does not like where this is going. Not only was she skinned alive, but he raped her afterwards, before removing her eyes, nose and tongue.” Michael leaned against the wall.

  “There was blood everywhere. On the wall was your grandfather's name right alongside my daughter's. There’s one other thing.” Michael’s eyes met his. “Alex was there. Alton recognized his scent from the blood on her mother’s fingernails.”

  Inside the Lars’ demon roared and Lars knew his voice was now that of other. “Was Alex the one?”

  “Yes, Alex was one of the ones who raped her. There were pictures of Tamara scattered around the room. Each one of them had his seed on it, like he was marking her.” Michael snarled. “Do not let her near that apartment. There is nothing left, Lars. They destroyed everything in it. I have her mother’s body at the local morgue and I’ve ordered a closed casket. We can’t allow Tamara to see her mother like that. She should remember her smiling.” A small bag appeared in his hand and he handed it to Lars..

  “These are the things I could clean. I’ve even taken off the residue of the violence that clung to some of the items so Tamara won’t feel the pain associated with them. Alton will be in later to talk to you.” He placed both of his hands on Lars’ shoulders.

  “She’s going to need you both to be strong and watch her, because I have a feeling she’s not going to let this rest.”

  “She’s not, already things are popping in her head and they are things I didn’t even think of. Maybe if we keep her mind working on it, we can keep her physically away from it,” Lars said, but her father frowned.

  “The thought of her even knowing the facts about what happened does not sit well with me, but I know she’ll hear about it sooner or later. You’re right, and I’ll be here if you need me. I’m not going to allow anyone to kill my daughter when I just found her.” With that he left and Lars turned, hating the fact he had to deliver such disturbing news to his mate.

  Yes, he and his other form agreed, his brother Alex was a dead man walking. Nothing and nobody would stop him from killing him this time.

  He opened the door and saw Tamara curled up in a ball beside Gage. Her swollen, tear-filled eyes met his before they drifted to the bag in his hand. “This is all that could be saved. I’m sorry, Tamara,” Lars’ voice cracked as he watched her lips tremble and she nodded.

  For the next hour, Lars explained everything she needed to know and where her mother’s body was. All the while, Tamara held onto a set of rings that had belonged to her mother, not saying a word till he was finished.

  “Alex didn’t organize this, someone else did. Someone who is more powerful, but connected to Alex in some way, like a lover or mate is pulling the strings. Oh, and there is more than one male. I’m seeing at least two or three others with this woman. It is almost as if she has a following or a cult.”

  Shocked, Lars and Gage stared at her as she lay between them in some kind of trance. Afraid to break her concentration, but worried about her state of mind, Lars and Gage allowed her to continue.

  ****

  The images kept coming and Tamara let them. She took in every detail of her surroundings, well her mother’s last hours, but there was not one image of the woman Tamara knew was there giving orders. She was like a phantom just out of reach, as if she was teasing her, but the bitch had met her match. There were men around her Tamara knew Alex, but she didn't know the others and couldn't get a good fix on their appearance.

  One was the man with the knife. He was taller than Alex and had a darker complexion, maybe even black, but she couldn’t make out for sure. She spoke out loud as Tamara moved through the images that were sent to her.

  “The woman is in the shadows, I know it’s a woman, I can hear her laughing.” Tamara shivered and frowned. “This isn’t all of her party. Some are missing. I can almost hear her thoughts.” Gage moved in closer, his body warming hers on one side as Lars did the same to her other side.

  “She hates your grandfather. He is her nemesis. He’s had contact with her before, but does not know it.” She sucked in her breath. “God she’s old, she remembers the pyramids being built and wants to return to those days.” Tamara snorted. “She hates humans and thinks they’re like cattle. It’s one of the reasons she doesn’t like me. Oh and it seems your brother is hung up on me too, which only infuriates her more.”

  That was it, the last image. Her stomach growled, but she was also weak from not feeding.

  “Come here, you need to feed, then we’ll go see what mom has brought us to eat,” Lars said as he picked her up and placed her over his body. He ran his hands down her back and cupped her ass. “Feed Tamara,” Lars moaned as she licked a spot above his heart and sank her fangs into his skin.

  His powerful blood filled her depleted system within two minutes, almost giving her a head rush as she sealed the wounds. “Thank you.” Tamara patted his chest before climbing off of him and sitting on the edge of the bed.

  She looked around, actually seeing the room. Before Tamara had been so out of it that she hadn’t noticed that some of her pictures and things were now here along with their dressers. Seeing her robe hanging on the door to the bathroom, she stood to grab it, but Gage was there first.

  He held it open for her and she smiled. “Thanks. I know the others are in the living room, so let’s get this over with. I’m also going to have to go into town tomorrow since my costume was ruined along with my clothes. We can stop at the morgue while we’re in town.” She brushed her fingers across the rings that had been her mother’s.

  The bitch that did this to her mother would die and by her hands. Already Tamara was forming her psychology profile on the woman in her head. It wouldn’t be long before she knew how that bitch thought and worked.

  “Hello in there…” Gage said, running his hand up and down in front of her. “Where are you, sweetie?” he asked, a concerned look on his face.

  “I have a lot going on, but I’m fine. I have you two with me and that helps more than you know.” She twined her fingers in his as Lars st
epped up to her.

  “I know you’re running things through that head of yours, but don’t leave us out, Tamara. I know how important this is to you, but we insist on being next to you.” He took her other hand and they made their way out to the living room.

  “Now maybe you can tell us how you saw what you did? It had something to do with the rings, didn’t it?” Lars asked, looking at Michael who frowned.

  “Don’t worry, Dad, I didn’t see mom and what they did to her.” She took a seat on the couch someone had supplied for them. Lars sat next to her as Tamara looked down at her hands. “It’s like I’m seeing certain images and feeling certain things. I can’t explain it. I sense her anger, the woman behind all this. It’s as if I’m getting a picture of who she is, sort of like a profile like the police use, but more intense.”

  She looked up at her father. “There were at least three males in mom’s home with the woman. It seems Alex and the one with the knife have taken a personal liking to me and that is really setting off the bitch.” She smiled up at Angeline who handed her a plate of food.

  “Eat, you have to keep up your strength,” she said smiling, but Tamara could see the hidden grief already there behind her eyes.

  “I’m sorry. I wish I was wrong about Alex being there.” Tamara squeezed her hand as she patted hers.

  “There is nothing we can do about it now. He’s chosen his path. I have my memories of him as a child. That will have to be enough. Plus, I have you now.” She turned and went into Lars’ father’s arms.

  Everyone was quiet for a few minutes as Tamara ate. When she looked up all of them were watching her. “What?”

  “We’re waiting to hear what else you found out,” Alton said kneeling before her. “She’s old, isn’t she?”

  Sitting back against Lars, Tamara nodded. “I saw pyramids. She wants to go back to the old ways. She considers humans cattle.” Tamara stared at Lars’ grandfather. “You hurt her somehow back then, but you didn’t know it. I get the sense she’s even spoken to you before.”

  He snarled and stood. “I’ve been trying to rack my brain, but I can’t come up with anything. At that time I was young, but I also hunted those that drew attention to our kind. We didn’t have a council. Humans didn’t know of our kind for another hundred years. There were only a few of us who were chosen to hunt and even then we didn’t know the others just in case we had to hunt one of our own.”

  Something inside her clicked and she sat up running the images again in her head. “She still hunts,” Tamara whispered and handed her plate to Lars.

  “That’s what was missing.” Tamara got up and started to pace. “She’s killing the hunters of old and, if I’m not mistaken, she’s gotten quite a few of them already.” Gage stepped in front of her and pulled her into his arms.

  “Slow down.” He wrapped her robe tighter around her and she smiled, not realizing it had come loose.

  Taking a deep breath, she looked up at Alton. “Is there any way to find out who the hunters were and contact all of them? We need to warn them, they’ll be on her hit list too. I think you have been a thorn in her side and she’s getting antsy. She’s going to make a mistake and I’ll be waiting for it.”

  “No, we’ll be waiting for it,” Lars snapped and stood. “I mean it, Tamara, you won’t do this by yourself or I’ll lock you up till we catch her.” He stepped in front of her and lifted her chin up.

  “You are our world, please include us,” Lars asked and she knew it took a lot for him to do this when all he wanted was too keep her safe.

  She nodded. “She’s going to strike again. This woman wants a build-up, death all around her, making sure everyone, including humans, is aware of her presence. It might not be anyone that is connected to us, but she’s not done.” A sense of dread came over her.

  “What, what’s wrong?” Gage asked behind her as he wrapped his arms around her.

  “There is a connection between us now. I don’t know how, but it’s there. She hasn’t realized it yet. This woman thinks she’s too powerful for us to stop her, which might be our ticket to get rid of her, but not soon enough. They’re killing again.”

  Chapter Five

  The sixth body was found in the abandoned building, as they watched the horrific scene unfolding in Southfield, Michigan. The local police were calling it the worst gang violence in history, but Tamara knew it wasn’t gangs that were skinning people alive and draining them.

  No, the bitch was striking and making sure everyone around her knew it, and it was only the beginning. “That bitch is psycho.”

  “We need to call the authorities down there and let them know what they’re dealing with.” Gage snarled, as he sat forward, scanning the crowd of people gathered around the building, waiting. “What do you think? Do you see anything that you recognize?” Gage turned and looked at Tamara as one of their team used a hidden video camera to scan the crowd.

  She had played with the camera before Lars’ guard had left. One thing for sure, Tamara loved little gadgets. Both Lars and Gage had teased her about it as she watched. It was now tucked into the man’s hat. No one would know he had it. It was the size of a pea.

  “Can he move to the right, there against that building?” Tamara pointed to where Alex stood in the shadows as a man next him leaned against a van. His eyes were almost black as he spotted their man.

  The guy grabbed onto Alex’s arm and whispered in his ear. Lars’ brother turned to their guard and flipped him off, before the both of them hopped into the waiting van.

  “Why didn’t they just flash out of there?” She looked over at Lars.

  “Too many around, plus I bet the woman was in the van watching her handiwork. I don’t recognize the man who was next to Alex, did you?” Lars asked his grandfather, who shook his head.

  “I saw him once,” Lars’ mother said. “He was in the hallway in one of the upstairs rooms. I thought it was odd since it was in the West wing and we hadn’t opened that up yet because we were waiting on Gage’s family. The man said he was lost so I figured he was a shifter.” She rubbed her upper arms as if warming herself,

  Sensing her distress, Trevor moved closer to his wife and engulfed her in a hug. “When was this, sweetheart?” he asked, kissing the side of her neck. “The thought of that monster near you…”

  She patted his arm. “It was yesterday, so we might want to have that wing checked over.”

  Four men came into the living room as if they had been asked to appear. “Take a team into the West Wing and get Samuel's dogs in there too. When that is clear, spread out. I want the whole house checked for bombs or traps.” He stopped speaking as she grabbed his arm.

  “The playroom, someone needs to check there now.” Tamara stood and moved towards the door. “Everyone out.”

  In a matter of five minutes, not a single person was left in the house except for the extra team Lars had called in last night.

  “Why do you think there is something in the playroom?” Lars asked standing next to her while Gage held her tight.

  “I don’t know, it’s just something clicked when you said bomb. I’d rather be wrong then all of us dead.” Ten of them stood back in the gardens that were now frozen over with a foot of snow.

  She was wearing jeans, a sweater and snow gear along with boots Lars had gotten for her from one of the guests. Tamara looked over at her dad and his gaze lifted to hers as he tried to smile.

  “If I’m so connected to this woman, can she see what we’re doing? And why can I do this all of a sudden? I mean, I was good at profiling, but not like this. It’s like I’m slowly getting jumbled thoughts from her brain.”

  One of the other elders stepped in front of her. “My name is Wallim. I wasn’t at your testing. May I have your hands, please?”

  “You’re not going to throw punches at me are you, because I don’t want to risk…” She looked at Lars.

  “She carries our children, so any physical testing will have to wait,” Lars more or less ord
ered as Gage stiffened behind her.

  “No, I will not harm you or the children. I will be able to see what kind of gift this is. It might help understand more. I’m afraid I’m a little older than the others and I get restless from time to time so I was off on what you call roundabouts when your testing was done.” Wallim informed her.

  “Wallim is one of the angels. You wouldn’t be that old?” Her dad smiled and winked at her.

  “Maybe, maybe not, but that is my little secret. May I?” Again he asked and she placed her cold hands into his warm ones and she smiled.

  “Umm, warmth, thank you.” Tamara mumbled as a cloud-like sensation traveled up her arms to her head. “Wow, this is different,” she stared into his eyes which Tamara could have sworn now had some kind of white film over them for a few seconds.

  “Thank you, It’s as I thought.” He released her hand and bowed to her. “One of your gifts has to the do with the cognitive brain aspects, As a human you had already trained yourself and your mind to work like this, but now with your father’s and husbands’ blood flowing through you, it has enhanced your abilities. There is no need to worry. She cannot see into your mind, but eventually, if she is as old as we believe, this woman should catch on to that fact you are reading her. When that happens, it could become dangerous.” He looked up at Gage, and then at Lars.

  “If she finds the path you take to enter her mind, with her being older… Before you even go there again, you need to work with your men on how to block others from entering into your head. They will be able to help you stop anyone from traveling backwards since they are bonded to you. I believe you haven’t totally entered her mind yet, but you are seeing glimpses of her thoughts, ones she is projecting loudly right now. Soon, with your gift, you will be able to enter her mind and we could have a way of finding her, but I really would not suggest it till the protection barriers are in place.” He stepped away from her as Lars looked down at her.

  “Do not even say it. I won’t enter her mind until the barriers are placed. I’m not stupid,” Tamara glared at Lars as she put her hand over her stomach.