The Beta's Missing Mate (Book 16 Of The Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 36

She stared at him for a moment, then licked her lips and watched his eyes drop to them. So, he wasn't completely immune to her after all. He hadn't taken his eyes off of her, but she knew that could be because he simply didn't trust her. Xavier hadn't taken his eyes off of her either.

She wasn't sure how she felt about removing her vest, but she didn't think either him or Xavier were armed. And some stupid insane little voice in her mind still wanted to tell her she was safe with him. She told that voice to shut the fuck up. He hadn't protected her from Malachi. Why would he now? That pissed her off, and Ana yanked off the vest and handed it to him, a defiant look in her eye as she glared at him.

Aidan took it from her, handing it to Xavier who sat it down next to her gun on a table. Then Aidan began to search her, his hands traveling over her body as he patted her down, his eyes on her. She couldn't pull her own eyes away from him, and didn't want to. She'd forgotten how beautiful his eyes were. The deep blue of them. She wanted him to bend her over the couch and fuck her instead of just teasing her. His hands skimmed over her breasts and she almost moaned, but bit her lip instead, reminding herself that they weren't alone.

Was he doing this on purpose? Was he purposely turning her on? Did he have any idea how much he was arousing her? She'd never had her body react this way to any man before, but there was something about Aidan. She'd thought she'd imagined the connection between them before, thought she'd been too drunk, but it was there. She could feel it. Too bad Aidan couldn't.

His jaw clenched slightly, and she realized she'd completely zoned out, succumbing to the feel of his hands on her body, while he'd found the wolfsbane she'd tucked between her breasts. "Take your shirt off."

What? That had escalated quickly. "I'm not taking my shirt off in front of you," she protested, though she really didn't want to. If he ordered her to strip naked, she probably would. Though Xavier in the room presented a bit of a problem. Maybe Aidan was into sharing. Ana wasn't sure how she felt about that. She hadn't enjoyed any other man touching her or kissing her since Aidan, and wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle Xavier touching her.

"Why not? It's not like I've never seen your tits before," he said, crossing his corded tattooed arms over his muscular chest.

Her gaze darted to Xavier, hoping Aidan would understand. Xavier wasn't looking at them. Instead he was turned away from them.

"He's not going to save you, Angel," he said in a low voice.

Did he remember her? Did he remember their night together? Or maybe he called every woman he fucked Angel. A rush of jealousy ran through her at the thought. But he had called her by her nickname too. She hadn't heard Malachi refer to her by her first name at all.

Ana swallowed hard and slipped off her shirt. She watched his eyes immediately go down to her breasts, and he stared at them for a moment before he grabbed the bottle of wolfsbane out from between them, then tossed it to Xavier who somehow caught it even though he wasn't looking their way. She looked back at him, though his eyes were still locked on her breasts.

She breathed out slowly as he suddenly turned her around and ran his hands over her hips, feeling her pockets. He pulled out her keys, then ran his hands down her legs. Why was this so arousing? This man... she couldn't get enough of him. She wanted him up against her even closer, his body pressed against hers. She wanted to know if he was aroused by all of this too.

Aidan handed her the shirt. "Get dressed."

Ana slipped it on and turned around to see him looking through her purse. He pulled out Xavier's wallet and phone, then her own wallet and phone as well. He glanced through her wallet, staring at her ID for a long moment before he shoved it back in her purse. He put her phone in his pocket, then he looked up at her.

"The other wallet is his." She nodded towards Xavier. "And I think the phone is his too."

Xavier had turned back to them and took the wallet and phone. He glanced through everything and then looked up at her. "Thank you."

She nodded. Well, at least she'd been able to return that to him, which was her purpose for coming here.

"Will you move her car?" Aidan asked him.

"Yeah," Xavier agreed, taking her keys.

"It's a rental," she murmured.

They both looked at her, then at each other. Xavier left the room, and Aidan turned to her. "Why did you come here, Ana?"

She was alone with him. Finally. Too bad he didn't seem happy that she was here. "To return his wallet and phone and to find out what happened to my father. He just disappeared three months ago," she said quietly. "I've been going through his things and found all of his notes on everything that happened with Xavier."

His eyes narrowed. "And what did Malachi tell you?"

"That he's dead," she whispered as sorrow swept through her. She wouldn't cry in front of him, but at the moment, she wanted to be alone so she could mourn his loss. Especially now that it had been confirmed.

"No one here killed him, Ana," he said quietly.

She looked up at him. "But..."

"He took some members of another pack not too far from where his lab was located. They went in and killed both of the men, rescued both Xavier and their people and burned the place to the ground," he said. "We didn't even know about it until after the fact. That happened three months ago."

She swallowed. Knowing what she knew, she couldn't blame them. It just saddened her that she'd never been able to say goodbye to him. She thought back over everything she knew. That must have been when Xavier had gone to Oklahoma. That answered that question, and explained why her father had stopped writing in his notebooks so abruptly. "I understand why. I read through all of his notes. What he did ..." she stopped, unable to continue. "Does he know about the tracker in his head?"

Aidan's gaze snapped back to her, and he grew quiet for several long moments. Finally, he spoke. "Yes. Though we don't know how it was being tracked. The pack from Oklahoma took a laptop from the lab and gave it to our tech guy. It's not being tracked from there."

"There was a second laptop that my father had at home. One that Clyde didn't know about," she said.

"Who's Clyde?" Aidan asked her.

"My father's partner, and..." she closed her eyes. "The one who was draining Xavier's blood."

"Where's that laptop now?"

"At my apartment. That's part of how I knew where to find Xavier. I know he was in California up until a few days ago."

She watched him grow quiet again for several long moments, before he finally spoke again. "It's been removed from his brain."

Her eyes widened in surprise, but she was glad to hear it. She nodded. "I'm glad," she whispered. "What's going to happen to me?"

"You're going to stay here for now," he said quietly.

"Why?"

"Many reasons, but the fact that you know our secret and that your a cop is a huge red flag, Ana," he said.

She sucked in a small breath. "I wouldn't tell anyone."

He snorted. "You come in here and pull a gun on Malachi and expect us to trust you?"

Probably not. But she'd tried. "Am I going to a prison cell?"

The door opened, and Xavier walked back in, carrying her bag. He handed it to Aidan, meeting his gaze for a moment, then turned around and left the room again.

Aidan turned back to her. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" she asked nervously. Was he really going to lock her up?

"To your prison cell."

She felt her heart drop at his words, and watched him scoop up the bullets. They didn't seem to bother him either. He slipped them in his pocket, then grabbed her gun and her vest. "Come on, Detective."