Without realizing what he was doing, Atticus jumped to his feet, ran across the room, and slammed his shoulder right into Diego’s stomach, in the blink of an eye, taking the man by surprise. Atticus then began to beat on Diego with both fists, using all of his fear and rage on Diego as he screamed out his emotions and tears streamed down his face.

  “Who do you think you are to take me from my life and sell me? How could you do this to me? I will never let you get your hands on B.B. I’ll kill you first.”

  After getting a few good hits in on Diego, one which nailed the bastard right in the balls and sent him to his knees, Atticus punched him in the temple, sending Diego to the floor in a lump. He stopped and stood back, shocked at what he had done. His chest rose and fell frantically as he breathed heavily, staring at Diego writhing on the floor in pain as he held his crotch.

  Atticus’s brain caught up with the situation and his gaze flicked to the door. He needed to get out of here. He took a few steps toward the door then froze as it swung open. Sir stepped in with three of the men who had been with his new Master. The smaller one’s gaze met his and Atticus could swear he saw concern there. Then he looked to the larger one and he was shocked to see pride in the man's eyes.

  Sir stepped farther into the room and stood over Diego, then looked at him. “What is going on in here?” he demanded.

  Atticus said nothing, only took a step back as he placed his hands in front of his groin and his body began to shake. This was it. His new Master would be so angry and he would beat Atticus. He quickly moved backwards until he hit the wall, then slid down to the floor, his body trembling uncontrollably.

  Sir took a threatening step toward him, his eyes blazing with anger. “I said what is going on in here? Don’t you dare disrespect me, boy,” Sir sneered.

  As Sir took another step toward him, the other big guy moved and grabbed Sir’s arm, stopping him. The rage Atticus saw in the large man's eyes scared him, but also confused him, because he knew the anger wasn’t aimed at him, but at Sir.

  “He is no longer your concern. He belongs to my employer now and if we bring him back with new bruises, Mr. Dean will be very displeased. You don’t want to see my employer angry, I assure you.”

  “You’ve been paid. This man now belongs to Mr. Dean, and when he hears about this, he is going to want his pound of flesh,” the smaller one stated.

  Sir spun around to look at the little man but Atticus saw the fear that entered Sir’s eyes before he turned and wondered what kind of monster he had been sold to.

  “You can assure Mr. Dean that I will take care of my wayward pet’s actions. He will be severely punished for whatever happened here,” Sir replied quickly.

  “I’m afraid that won’t be good enough. First, he was insulted upon arrival, and now this. Mr. Dean will be most displeased. He may even decide to talk to his family about taking this operation back,” the little man said.

  “That won’t be necessary. You can tell Mr. Dean I will take care of this personally. Both men will be dealt with.”

  Atticus watched as the smaller man ignored Sir and pulled out his phone. After punching in a few numbers, he placed the phone to his ear then said something in Italian, Atticus thought. Atticus watched Sir’s face and took great pleasure in seeing the vampire go paler than he already was as his eyes filled with fear. Good. Now the fucker had a small clue what it was like.

  After a few moments of silence as the little man listened to who Atticus guessed was his new Master, the little guy hung up and slid the phone back into his pocket as he locked his cold gaze on Sir. “Mr. Dean says he wants his retribution and it is clear that you don’t have control here. Either give him the two men who have disrespected him, or prepare for the Dean family to step in and take back what belongs to them.”

  “You can’t do that, Master,” Diego pleaded as he got to his knees.

  Sir spun around to face Diego, his eyes panicked as his gaze roamed over Diego’s face and Atticus could see the pain in the asshole’s eyes from the thought of giving up his personal slave. Sir suddenly steeled his shoulders and turned back to face the others. “Tell Mr. Dean that I will deal with this one myself, as is my right as his Master. But if it would please him, I will hand over the man who insulted him earlier and the man responsible for taking care of this pet since his arrival. I was going to deal with him myself after he got overzealous on this pet earlier and caused him great pain, but I will gladly hand him over to Mr. Dean.”

  “You don’t tell Mr. Dean anything. Take your piece of trash away before these men take him from you. Bring them the man that gave Mr. Dean a problem when we arrived, and the man you just mentioned, then tell these men exactly what he did to this pet. I will escort Mr. Dean’s new property to his car. And get me something to cover him up. We can’t risk someone seeing a naked man out in public,” the little man demanded.

  “Diego, quickly get Atticus some clothes and bring them here and tell Tony to bring Wally to me right away,” Sir ordered. Diego immediately got to his feet and ran from the room. Sir turned to the other men. “If you will follow me, we’ll take care of this right now.” Then he looked at the little guy. “Please give Mr. Dean my deepest apologies and assure him nothing like this will happen again.”

  Sir and the two bigger guys turned to the door, and as they went to step out, Diego ran back in with a pile of clothes and handed them to the little guy, then he disappeared from the room with Sir and the others.

  The little guy closed the door, then turned back to him and walked closer. Atticus could see his whole demeanor change as their eyes met. The smaller man gave him a sad smile as he bent forward and placed the clothes beside Atticus. Then the little guy crouched down before him and Atticus could see...what was it in those deep green eyes? It almost looked like...happiness. But not the sick kind like he would expect with these men taking him away to a psycho Master, but like a friend.

  “Hi, Atticus. My name is Jasper and I’m here to help. I promise you that you’re safe now. No one will harm you,” Jasper whispered so softly Atticus had to strain to hear him.

  He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but something told him this man was telling him the truth and that he could trust Jasper. But he was still a little scared to move.

  “I understand how scared you are and that you don’t know me and don’t trust me and that’s okay. But we are here to rescue you. Please keep acting scared of us so that we don’t blow our cover. We’ve been working with B.B…and your mate.”

  Atticus was shocked by Jasper’s declaration as his mind filled with hope. Were they really here to save him? Was this really over? Was he truly safe? Mate?

  CHAPTER 12

  Mate. That’s what Jasper had said. Could it be? Could he trust this man, whoever he was? What if he were telling the truth? What if his mate was really here and had rescued him? He had always wanted a mate since he first found out about them. He had been so lonely and wanted to find someone to love him. That’s why he joined that dating site to begin with and met Diego. That’s what got him into this mess.

  But this was different. A mate was different. If Jasper wasn’t trying to trick him and his mate really did find him, then could he risk not going and possibly losing his mate forever? And how did his mate know who he was? It wasn’t like he had ever met him before. Atticus would have known if he’d met his mate.

  This was all so very confusing, but he needed to take the chance that this Jasper was telling the truth. Besides, he brought up B.B.’s name. Did they know B.B.? Or was this all a ruse? Damn it, he wished he knew. What if this was some kind of trick and his new Master was just testing him?

  Either way he was sunk. There was no way he was getting out of here unless he went with Jasper anyway. Resigning himself to the fate that lay before him and sending up a silent prayer that putting his trust in Jasper wasn’t the wrong decision. If there was a chance he was about to meet his mate and the man was responsible for saving him, then he didn’t want to take the risk of not going with Jasper.

  Atticus silently got dressed in the clothes Diego had brought, then followed Jasper from the room. Before they stepped out, Atticus heard yelling coming from somewhere down the hall and knew it was Wally. The man was arguing, trying to plead his case from being taken away.

  It made Atticus scared again and he just wanted to run. If this Jasper was telling him the truth and was here to rescue him, then what were they going to do to Wally? Did he even care? No. He thought quickly. Wally was a sick bastard and deserved whatever was about to happen to him. But the thought of Wally made Atticus think of all the other big men Sir had in his employ who were surly on the other side of that door.

  Jasper had said that they were there to rescue him, but he had sent the two big guys away. Not to insult Jasper, but the man wasn’t that much bigger than Atticus, so how was he going to get Atticus out of here? Jasper must have felt his hesitancy because just then he turned to him and gave him a mischievous smile as Jasper lifted the hem of his pant leg and motioned for Atticus to look. His eyes widened slightly when he spotted the gun strapped to the vampire’s calf. When he met Jasper’s gaze again, he held up three fingers and motioned back toward his lower leg. Did that mean he had three guns on him? Did it really matter? Atticus just wanted to get the hell out of there and prayed he wasn’t jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

  Jasper had given him an apologetic look before he grabbed Atticus’s arm, making it look like he had a firm hold on him, but Jasper’s hold was gentle. Then Jasper’s face went stone cold again and his eyes turned hard. He opened the door and led Atticus from the room. Not paying attention to any of the yelling going on, Jasper walked him right out into the lobby and out the front door.

  Sitting at the curb was a long, stretch Hummer limo with blackout windows. Atticus’ gut clenched thinking about the evil that could happen behind those windows without anyone on the outside even being aware of what was happening if they stared at the vehicle. Suddenly he felt the need to run again, but his body hurt so bad from the electric shock that Wally had given him earlier, then the stress of the night with the auction, him fighting Diego, and now all of this. Atticus felt like he was about to fall over on his face and just sleep for days.

  Jasper opened the rear door of the Hummer and Atticus saw long legs covered in black slacks, and his body finally just gave out. He had no fight left in him. Jasper quickly caught him as Atticus felt his knees go weak and his body dropping. Suddenly, big, strong hands were on him that weren’t Jasper’s, and those hands picked him up into even stronger arms and Atticus felt safe. His eyelids closed from the feeling of relief that swamped him and he felt himself floating.

  Soon after, he felt his body laid gently on someone's lap and those arms wrap around him protectively, but gently. Atticus turned his face into the wonderful smell of whiskey and man, and inhaled deeply, letting the scent fill him, surround him. He loved the smell and became drugged by it. The last thing he remembered was pressing his face against a hard chest and taking more of that delicious aroma deep into his lungs, then everything went black.

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  Fabian had been beyond pissed when Jasper had phoned him to tell him that someone had tried to rough Atticus up before they reached him. He wanted to run from the car and start ripping people's heads off, but Silas calmed him quickly, reminding him they needed to get Atticus away from there and to do it without blowing their cover. Even though they had rescued Atticus, there were others who needed rescue too.

  It killed Fabian that they couldn’t save those other men tonight, but they wouldn’t stop on this path they had been placed on. Fabian would never forgive himself if he didn’t do everything he could to shut down this operation, rescue as many as he could, and punish those responsible.

  He knew he couldn’t stop them all, but he could stop this one. And after his conversation with Raven earlier to inform him of what was happening, Fabian felt a little better knowing that his best friend had promised him that he would set up a task force of paranormals to begin researching human trafficking so they could do their part to try to stop it.

  Fabian sat in the car waiting for his brothers and Snow to bring out Atticus and apparently two assholes who deserved death. Fabian would see what would be done to them once he got their full story, but god save them if either of them laid a finger on Atticus and caused him any pain.

  The front door opened and Fabian’s heart caught in his throat. Jasper walked out casually with Atticus by his side. His gorgeous mate looked terrified, but he didn’t hesitate in his approach. Once Jasper opened the door and Fabian got the first whiff of his mate’s true scent, Fabian just wanted to roll around in it.

  As he sat forward to get his first face to face look at Atticus, he saw the moment Atticus’s knees gave out. Jasper immediately grabbed onto Atticus, but Fabian moved quickly, sliding from the car, and catching Atticus before he hit the ground. He knew his mate was in an adrenaline crash, and just from the little bit that Fabian had witnessed from Atticus’s day, he was afraid his gorgeous man would go into shock. He needed to get Atticus home where they could care for him properly. Fabian pulled Atticus close and his eyes closed from the amazing sensation of having his mate in his arms for the first time, as Atticus's wonderful aroma of strawberries and sunshine surrounded him.

  Fabian slid back into his seat, adjusting Atticus on his lap and was overwhelmed with happiness when Atticus cuddled into his chest. He heard Atticus draw in a deep breath through his nose, knowing his mate was taking comfort from his scent as well. Then he felt Atticus’s body relax fully, a small snore coming from his lips. Fabian smiled and kissed the top of his mate’s head tenderly, as he prayed to the gods above that this ordeal that his mate has suffered through wouldn’t make Atticus push him way, or refuse him.

  Jasper slid in beside him and told Fabian what had happened and how Atticus had stood up for himself. He also told him about what was said to Viscardi about his personal pet and how Atticus was visibly scared, but still gave Jasper his trust, and did as Jasper asked to get them out of there without being stopped.

  A sense of pride filled Fabian as he pushed out his chest a fraction, not wanting to wake his mate. But he was proud to have such a strong mate and was having trouble holding it in.

  “Here they come,” Silas said from the driver's seat, breaking Fabian’s concentration on the man in his arms. He looked toward the front of the building where Saber and Snow were escorting the asshole who gave them a hard time when they first arrived, and another large man. Fabian instantly felt his fangs break through his gums and he knew his eyes had turned red. He wanted to rip both men apart. He didn’t know who the other was, but from what Jasper had told him, this man was responsible for hurting his mate.

  Jasper laid a hand on his forearm, silently telling him to calm down, as the door was pulled open again and Saber harshly threw the first man into the back, then Snow did the same with the other. Both men fell in a pile on the carpeted floor in a tangled mess and struggled to break free and sit up. It was kind of hard with their wrists zip tied behind their backs, but Fabian didn’t give a shit. He just sat there stone still, watching them with cold eyes.

  Saber climbed in and was not careful in the least as he trampled across them, stepping on thighs and groins, until he settled in the seat farthest from Fabian. He held a strange cane in his hands and Fabian was curious as to why, but remained silent. Snow entered just as uncoordinated as Saber and grabbed one of the men by the collar, throwing him toward Saber where the man landed at Saber’s feet. Then Snow grabbed the other one and dragged him across the car, dropping him on the floor as Snow sat next to Saber.

  As each man twisted to sit upright on the floor of the car, Silas got them moving. Once the men looked in his direction, the one from earlier knew he was in serious shit as one side of Fabian’s lips curled up in a snarl. Fabian took great joy from the man turning pale. The other glared at him in disgust as his gaze dropped from his face, to Atticus in his arms, then back to his face. Stupid human. He had no idea of the true danger he was in.

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  Once they returned to the house, Fabian quickly brought Atticus to his suite and gently placed him in the center of his bed. Silas and B.B. came right in on his heels and B.B. ran for the bathroom, coming back out with a bowl of water and a few wash rags, then sat on the bed next to Atticus and began to wipe his face and neck.

  “Will you stay with him? I need to go see to the prisoners we brought back. I shouldn’t be long,” Fabian addressed B.B. He hated leaving his mate, but they had to decide what they were going to do with the two scumbags.

  “Of course. Go. I’ll stay. Oh, and Fabian?” B.B. said turning to him. Once their gazes met, B.B.’s eyes turned cold and deadly. “Don’t go easy on them.” Fabian gave B.B. an

  evil smirk and nodded once, then spun and left the room.

  He made his way back downstairs where Snow stood in the foyer waiting. “How’s he doing?” Snow asked when he saw Fabian.

  “He’s still out, but I think he’ll be okay. We’ll see what happens when he wakes up. So, are you staying, or going?” Fabian asked.

  “I’d like to stay and help you take care of the trash, but with this ongoing investigation I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to witness what I know is about to happen. Plausible deniability, you know,” Snow replied, giving Fabian a small smile.

  Fabian chuckled and held out his hand to the Special Agent and the two shook hands. “Thanks for your help with this. It’s greatly appreciated. So, where does this investigation go from here?”

  “I don’t like taking credit for others work, but in this situation, I don’t see any other way around it. I’ll make up a false report that I spoke with Bernard Brantley and he gave me the intel about this Diego. I’ll have to talk with your Kalen and see if he can help me get all his research into my computer in case anyone wants to see how I followed the breadcrumbs. I don’t think it’s a wise move to let the officials know it was all of you who did this. I will, however, let them know that I did have Kalen’s help seeing as he’s a computer genius. That is, of course, if it’s alright with you and Kalen. Depending on how this case goes, he may have to testify in court and I don’t know if he wants to do that,” Snow replied.

 

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