As Az watched, Nathan St. James became aware of his surroundings all at once. He raised a finger like he wanted to magically attack Az again. It didn’t work and he shook his finger again.
“Not going to happen.” Az shook his head and tried not to laugh. “We’ve put a magic dampener in this room. Anything short of shifting isn’t possible in here right now. Guess you’re out of luck in that respect.”
“Why does my head feel foggy?”
Az moved and sat at the end of the table. “We drugged you.”
Looking up at the clock, he decided it had been in St. James’ IV long enough. He could probably start to ask questions soon.
“What are you going to do with me?”
“I’m going to ask you some questions. You’re going to answer them. I’m not all that clear what will happen to you then. My inclination is to give you back to Kendrick after you’ve spilled all of his secrets.”
The man tried to rear up on the table, stopped by the restraints. “You can’t do that. Kill me first. Don’t give me back to Kendrick.”
“Not so in love with my dear old dad now, are you? It’s really not up to me. You’ll have to take it up with Tristan and see what kind of compassionate mood he is in.”
“Leah, baby, I tried to get you out of here. That must count for something.”
Az growled. “You don’t get to address her.”
Leah laughed. “This is Azriel’s show, Dad, I’m just here as a witness.”
Her faith temporarily blindsided him. Realizing he was still on a precipice in this makeshift interrogation, he couldn’t allow himself to analyze just how fantastic it was to have someone who believed in him wholeheartedly.
He needed to focus. “Tell me how you kept Leah’s mother from her mate for all of those years.”
“There are simple ways…spells, if you will, to separate a shifter from their mate.”
Nathan’s head swung back and forth on the table as he tried to resist the compulsion the drugs put on him. “Any time I thought she was starting to go back to him, I would give her another dose of the spell. As for my brother, he was easy enough to manipulate knowing that at any time I could and would turn his daughter over to Kendrick Kane.”
“How did Kendrick find you?”
“Right after his expulsion from Westervelt, he spent some time searching for the missing women. He found my brother and his mate. I managed to convince him to let me have them for a while. I kept hoping I could find a way to take her wolf as my own. Unfortunately, she died right as I perfected the spell.”
Az’s blood boiled at the thought. Despite what Tristan felt, he knew he was more than capable of ending this man’s life right at this very moment. Leah’s cool hand touched his arm, dousing his enraged mood to a simmer.
“Did Kendrick send you here now?”
He shook his head. “He’d be furious if he knew I had come. He was angry that I’d even filed a missing persons report on Leah. I had no choice. Too many people came around asking where she was.” His eyes narrowed as he looked at Az’s mate. “She’s always been so damn social.”
Asking Nathan about the nature of the magic he used would be useless for Az. He probably wouldn’t understand it even if he managed to get the other man to answer his queries. Looking down at the man who had raised Leah but destroyed her family, he noticed the sweat forming on the older man’s brow. Tristan and the others could ask their magical questions. He just had one of his own.
“Tell me, where is Kendrick now?”
Chapter Eleven
The interrogation of the man who she once believed was her father and now had become something out of her worst nightmare took almost the entire night. Azriel had finally gotten the location of his father’s compound out of Nathan—and she was determined to think of him that way now as ‘Nathan’ and not as ‘Dad’—which had brought Tristan and the others back into the room to question him about his magic use and the intricacies of his coven.
Leah didn’t particularly care about the magical end of things. She knew they would be going on a trip to Texas where Kendrick had made his new home and where it was more than likely the place where he had imprisoned her turning her into a wolf. Other than that, her head simply hurt. It wasn’t the kind of thing taking a pain medication would cure. It was a tired headache telling her she had just done too much over the last…well who even knew how much time it had really been?
Excusing herself from the interrogation without a word to Az, she had found her way back to his rooms using scent alone. A feat she might not have been able to do earlier that day. Her wolf was definitely finding her mojo. Opening the door, she barely spared a glance to the ill-kept room before stumbling into the adjacent bedroom and, still dressed, collapsing into a deep sleep on his bed.
Sometime later, she was vaguely aware of Az entering the room and undressing her.
The sensation of clothes being taken off and then placed on her body stirred her briefly but his assurances that she should stay asleep resonated with her exhausted brain and within seconds she sank again into slumber.
She did not dream that night—a strange occurrence for Leah who, as an artist, found that most nights were filled with color, images, and stories that usually let her awaken feeling motivated to paint in the morning. She could only attribute it to her utter need of deep sleep. Opening her eyes, she became aware of two things very quickly. It was very early, there was barely any light coming through the window and Az’s strong arms were around her pulling her snug up against his chest.
His breathing was even and if the movement of his eyes beneath his lids were any indication he was deep in REM sleep. Not wanting to disturb him but desperate to pee and use the shower, she dislodged herself from his embrace and made her way to the bathroom. Moments later she stood under the warm water of Az’s shower and tried to straighten out her thoughts.
Did she feel more refreshed? Sort of.
Did she feel like she could go back to sleep? No.
Was she aching for her mate? Yes.
Closing her eyes she tried and failed to make her need for him diminish. There was no helping it. Her body practically burned from her need for Az. Was this part of the early stages of their relationship that Az had mentioned earlier? The part where the couple reappeared months later with a baby on the way or would she wake up this way needing him every morning?
Turning off the spray, she shrugged not really caring either way. If she woke up this way every morning it would only add a bonus to their relationship. Assuming Az was game for being awoken by her sexual attentions.
Wrapping herself in a towel she exited the bathroom. He hadn’t moved since she’d left the bed and she took a moment to admire the perfection of the male form that was Azriel Kane. She knew, because she’d been in his mind and had half of his soul stored in her body, that it bothered him more than just a little that he was the shortest of all of his brothers. She raised an eyebrow and almost laughed at the thought. On the physical scale with ten being total hottie and one being lame, her mate was a twelve. What would he do with two more inches? His lean, hard frame was everything a woman could ask for. Well, at least everything she could ask for and if anyone else tried to make a move on him, she’d rip out her throat.
Dropping her towel to the ground she crept to the bed and gently pulled the covers off Az’s body. He sighed in his sleep but didn’t stir. Reaching down, she cupped him in her hand. She felt his whole body stiffen as she used her other hand to pull down his boxer shorts and with one swift movement take him in her mouth.
Az came awake instantly, groaning, the sound causing her to become instantly wet.