Let the Rain Come Down [The Moonlight Breed 6] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) by Gabrielle Evans (tools of titans ebook .txt) 📕

His right hand darted out, wrapping around the fucker’s throat and lifting him off his feet in the span of a heartbeat.

“Maybe you should say your good-byes,” he growled viciously, taking great satisfaction in watching the man wiggle in his grasp as he fought for air. “Let me tell you how this is going to work. You’re going to walk out that door and forget all about Oscar, all about Haven. If you even speak his name again, I’ll know. People have a way of disappearing when I’m unhappy, and I don’t imagine anyone will miss you.”

With a lazy flick of his wrist, he sent the man sailing across the room to land in a heap on the coffee table, reducing the stylish piece of furniture to a shattered mess.

“I really liked that table, too,” Stavion mumbled as he pushed a hand through his dark hair.

“I think I just got wood.” Xander glanced between the groaning man on the floor and Demitrius with a smirk on his lips. “Impressive, man.”

“Oh, dear,” Stavion gasped in mock surprise as he lit a match and dropped it onto his desk, igniting the contracts binding Oscar and his friends to Joseph. “Well, that is a shame.”

“Accidents will happen,” Xander added with a shrug. “Terribly sorry about that, Mr. Mahoney.”

“You won’t get away with this,” Joseph said breathlessly as he struggled to his feet. “I’ll be back, and I won’t be alone.”

“Uh-huh.” Rolling his eyes, Stavion pushed a button on his intercom and leaned closer to the desk. “Raven, Demos, could you please escort our guest to the front gates?”

Two Enforcers appeared in the doorway almost at once, both looking very pleased to carry out their task. “Should we give him a friendly reminder?” Raven asked with a shit-eating grin.

Stavion seemed to consider it but shook his head. “I think Demitrius took care of the warning. Have someone follow him to make sure he leaves town, though.”

“Got it, boss,” Demos responded with a dip of his head, taking Joseph’s elbow and jerking him around roughly.

“Don’t call me boss!” Stavion called, garnering only laughter from the Enforcers as they shoved Joseph out of the room hard enough to actually send him to his knees.

“Oops.” Raven grabbed the man around the collar and hauled him to his feet. “Watch that last step, dude. It’s a doozy.”

“Why him? Oscar says The Hive is huge. Why haven’t they come for him?” Once the vampires were out of sight with their unwelcomed guest, Demitrius turned back to Xander and pointed toward the pile of ashes on the desk. “Did you get anything useful?”

Reaching behind him, Xander extracted a stack of folded papers from his back pocket and wiggled his eyebrows. “There’s an address on here,” he answered as he unfolded the contracts. “I doubt it’s legit, but it’s a place to start.”

“Also a registration number,” Stavion added with a curl of his nose. “Oscar and his friends were microchipped like fucking animals.”

“Is there a way to remove the chip?” They’d have to find it first, and with a shifter’s ability to heal without scarring, that could prove tricky.

“We’ll figure it out,” Xander assured him as he continued to peruse the papers in his hands. “This Hive place is smart. According to this, once a contract is signed, a Desirable becomes the responsibility of the Master.”

“Meaning?”

“This agreement hereby absolves Redway Corporations from any further obligations in relationship to the Desirable in question. Should the Desirable become lost or stolen, the Master is responsible for the reclamation, as well as any costs incurred relating to search and seizure of property. Unless the Master wishes to sign an additional contract, all communications with Redway Corporations will cease upon the signing of this document.”

Demitrius grinned smugly as he listened to Xander read. “So Mr. Mahoney is shit out of luck.”

“Yes,” Stavion answered slowly as he shared a look with Xander that Demitrius couldn’t decipher. “We have bigger problems, though.”

As far as Demitrius was concerned, anything that threatened the health and safety of his mate was top priority. Still, curiosity got the better of him, and he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “What problems?”

“You know why Haven was formed, right?” Pausing for Demitrius’s affirmation, Stavion pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before continuing. “The abused paranormals coming in from all over the country are directly related to one man—Cyrus Redway.”

The figurative light bulb clicked on, and Demitrius wasn’t any happier about it than the vampire. “Cyrus Redway as in Redway Corporations.”

“As in, The Hive,” Xander added in a subdued tone.

“Well, where is he? How do we find him?”

The alpha shared another one of those annoying looks with Stavion before shaking his head somberly. “We don’t. He was killed almost two years ago.”

“Someone is continuing his work.” He’d seen the abused and broken flowing into Haven, but he’d never given much thought to where the problem had started.

Hanging around the mansion, Demitrius had heard snippets of discussion about an illegal slave trade and strange experiments, but since none of it related directly to him, he’d pushed the information to the back of his mind and continued on about his business.

With Oscar now under threat, he wanted to know everything, and he wanted to know it in a big damn hurry.

* * * *

“No.” Oscar stopped in his tracks and jerked his hand out of Demitrius’s grasp. His knees trembled, his hands shook, and bile rose up in his esophagus. “They found us. Oh, gods, they found us.”

While scared, a small part of him was pissed that Demitrius had chosen their routine walks to deliver the damning news. It was the part of the day that he always looked forward to, rising well before the sun in his excitement. Why did the man have to ruin this special time?

“Oscar, breathe.”

How in the hell was he supposed to breathe? He’d become complacent, almost arrogant that he’d been able to outwit his enemy, and now he was paying for his arrogance. “Where are they now?