Chapter 48

(**Parker’s POV**)
**18+ Content**

He left Rayne sleeping after their last round of sex. They made love as the sun came up on the couch facing the deck. He left her curled up wrapped in a blanket so he could make them much needed food. He found lasagna in the freezer, heated the oven, then went into the bedroom to check his and Rayne’s voicemails. No calls on his phone, but one on Rayne’s got his attention.

Sebastion Drakos again. Parker listened to the message he left, then called him back. The call went straight to voicemail. Phone tag it is. He left a message telling him they would get ahold of Arabella as soon as they could, leaving the part out about why they were busy at the moment. Informing Sebastion about Rayne’s heat felt like too much information to pass on.

Parker was curious about the mess that Sebastion found himself in. He found his second chance mate, which normally is a glorious thing, but how he found her isn’t. Parker looked at the laptop on the kitchen table, deciding that while he waited for the oven to heat, he would do a little research. Who was Vicktor Treadstone?

Vicktor was far from the man the human world knew him as. Treadstone Industries was a massive company that operated in the same line of field that Drakos Enterprises did. Clothing manufacturing and distribution. Textile mills and everything related to making clothes, bedding, curtains, and general household decor. Drakos Enterprises took it a step further by investing in other goods and services that Treadstone Industries hadn’t. Lumber mills, architecture firms, art galleries, and more. They were business competitors. Is that why Treadstone put Sebastion in his sights? Capture an Alpha werewolf and his biggest business rival all in one go?

That would something worth looking in to. Parker put the lasagna in the oven, then he went to work on some research. Nothing abnormal popped up in the human news, which didn’t surprise him at all. A man like Treadstone would be very careful to keep his dirty dealings out of the media. What would he do if society knew of his darker dealings? From the outside, he would look like a human trafficker.

Parker concluded he wouldn’t find anything important this way. He would need to do a deeper search. This would be a good job for Tanner, a shifter he met in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tanner is a hacker, and he uses the Dark Web to get information on his targets. He is hired often by humans to acquire blackmail information.

Sicking Tanner on Vicktor Treadstone will be fun.

Parker’s stomach growled as the aromatic scent of lasagna wafted through the kitchen. He flicked his eyes in the living's direction room as he heard Rayne shifting around on the couch. Looking at his watch, he saw he had another twenty minutes until the food was ready. He stood from the table, grabbed his cellphone, then went out the back door to make a phone call.

He dialed the number for one of Tanner’s burner phones, then waited the customary three rings. Leaving a message for Tanner to call him back, Parker hung up the phone and waited. Like clockwork, his phone rang a minute later. Tanner was reliable, as always.

“Yo, Parks! What’s up my man?” Tanner’s voice was high pitched, and he was no doubt over stimulated with caffeine.

“Nothing much, just waiting for Rayne to wake so we can eat lunch. What have you been up to recently?”

“Oh, how is my love doing?” Tanner asked with a laugh.

Parker growled into the phone which only made Tanner laugh harder. “My mate is not yours to love!”

“Woah, calm done dude. Wait, what the fuck? When did you two become mates? I thought you said she had a mate out there somewhere?” Tanner peppered Parker with a shit ton of question in a speedy, almost unintelligible stream.

Parker had expected that, so he filled Tanner in on the details after he had finally stopped babbling. Answered the questions Tanner interrupted him with. Finally, Parker had to heave a sigh and get to the point of the call, or Tanner would talk his ear off. “I need you to do a deep dive search on a man for me.”

“Who we looking to blackmail?” Tanner giggled with glee.

“No blackmail. I just need all the information about this person that the human news doesn’t report about. I want everything you can find,” Parker gave Tanner the name.

“That is a big order, Parker. Can I ask why you are looking into this human?” Tanner asked with a serious tone. Gone was the joker from a moment ago. Here was the real Tanner, the hacker.

“I am not sure how much I should tell you. I don’t want to put you in their crosshairs,” Parker told him as worry gripped his mind for his friend’s safety.

“Parker, my man, the line of work I am in is dangerous. What could you be involved in that could cause people to come after me? No one knows my actual name, where I live, or my face. This line is untraceable. Spill it,” Tanner chuckled.

“The Collectors,” Parker said simply.

“This man is involved with those sick fucks?” Tanner’s voice was now outraged.

“He is one. He isn’t after Rayne or I, but a friend of ours is now on his radar. I want to give him every advantage I can,” Parker said with conviction.

“You want to take on The Collectors? Jesus, Parks, that is a very tall order.”

“Not the entire organization right now. Just one man. If we can stop this one man now, it will hurt them, but I know it will not be enough to destroy them.” Parker looked at his watch and swore loudly, “I got to go for now, Tanner. Will you do this?”

“Gladly. I will send everything I find to Rayne’s encrypted account.” Tanner ended the call.

(**Rayne’s POV**)

The sound of the back door opening and closing woke Rayne from a deep sleep. She lifted her to look over the back of the couch towards the kitchen. Parker had come in from out back and was shoving his cellphone in his back pocket. Who had he been talking to? When he walked to the stove, Rayne registered the tantalizing scent of lasagna filling the house.

Oh, thank the Goddess for Parker. He was thinking of food now, and that suited Rayne perfectly. It felt like she hadn’t eaten in days, rather than the meal she had last night during one of the calm parts of the night. They finished all the roast beef in the refrigerator, the ice cream, and the popcorn. A trip to the store would be needed if her heat lasted over three days. They were on day two of what felt like an eternity.

Rayne stood up and wrapped the blanket around her body like a towel, then walked into the kitchen to join Parker.

“Hello there, my love. Sleep well?” Paker asked her as she opened the cabinet to grab plates.

“Yes. I think I could sleep for a week when this is over.” Rayne put the plates on the counter next to the stove.

“I think that sounds like a lovely plan. Let’s eat, while I tell you the plan I just set into motion to help Sebastion. He called yesterday while we were busy,” Parker dished out lasagna onto both plates while Rayne grabbed silverware and two beers.

They sat down at the kitchen’s island counter to eat. Rayne knew better than to go too far from the stove where the pan was. Parker could eat the entire tray of lasagna and still have room for more. He burned so much energy when he shifted, but today he would burn the energy in a more pleasing way.

“What did Sebastion want this time? Did Beckett help him?”

“He didn’t say. He asked if we had a way to do a location spell to find Zasha. Treadstone left the states to go on a mission, Sebastion didn’t go into much detail on that. I think he will try to use a location spell to rescue Zasha while Treadstone is away.”

“That isn’t a bad idea. Beckett and his crew could help there. What plan did you set in motion?” Rayne ask after she took a sip of beer.

“I called Tanner,” Parker took a bite of his lasagna.

“Why on earth would you call him?”

“I did a search on Treadstone while you were sleeping. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary in the human media, so I figured a deeper search would be a better idea. Tanner can find all there is to know about Treadstone and more. Stuff he has hidden deep where must wouldn’t know to look. Tanner can find everything there is to know. I figure if we get that information it will help Sebastion be better prepared.”

“Well, aren’t you thinking ahead now, huh?” Rayne said with a laugh.

“I kind of like the guy, even if he was an idiot once,” Parker grinned as he looks at her.

They finished their lunch, cleaned up, then snuggled up on the couch to watch a movie. Parker dozed off halfway through the movie. Rayne was going to let him sleep, but another wave of lust hit her as her heat kicked in. She got off the couch to kneel between his legs. She slides her hand over his lap to caress him through the cotton of his shorts.

Parker moaned at the contact but didn’t open his eyes. He was awake now, but he was letting her take control. Rayne pressed her palm against his swelling erection, then hooked her hands in the waistline of his shorts. He lifted his hips to help her pull them down. With the cloth out of her way, Rayne took him into her mouth.

“Holy fuck,” Parker hissed as she sucked on him.

Rayne moaned around his erection as having him in her mouth turned her on even more. She stroked her hand up and down his shaft as she bobbed her head over him. Using her tongue and hand to make him orgasm down her throat. When she finished, she sat back as she licked her lips, then looked up at him.

Parker wasted no time, and before she could react, he pulled her up off the floor. He pulled her onto his lap, spread her legs on either side of his, then thrust deep inside her. Rayne cried out his name as he thrust hard and fast. She leaned back with one hand on each of his knees and took control again.

Rayne rode him slowly to draw out the pleasure as long as she could. Every movement of her hips brought her closer to release. Parker moved his hands up to cup her breasts, his thumbs flicking over her hardened nipples. She sat up and used her thigh muscled to move up and down over him. He took this opportunity to pull one of her nipples into her mouth.

Rayne moaned as he licked, sucked, and nibbled on one nipple and then he moved to the other to give it the same treatment. She loved it when he worshipped her breasts this way. The feeling of his hot breath and tongue over her nipple sending shivers of delight down her body. She was so caught up in the attention he was paying to her breasts, she stopped moving over him to concentrate of the feeling of his mouth on her.

Parker took that as his turn to take control again. He flipped her over onto her back, then slid down low until his head was between her thighs. Her back arched off the couch as his tongue flicked over her magic bean. He sucked it into his mouth and fluttered his tongue over her, fast and merciless. Then he slipped two fingers into her core, hooked them up to hit her g-spot.

Rayne orgasmed with a scream of pleasure so intense she saw stars. Before she came back down from the peak, Parker climbed back up her body and slipped back inside her. He fucked her hard and fast, causing Rayne to scream his name with each orgasm until her voice was hoarse. Then he slowed his pace to make love to her.

Rayne wrapped her arms and legs around him and held on until she felt his rhythm falter. She knew he was close, so she moved his neck to the side and bit his mate mark hard, sinking her teeth in deep. Parker growled as her bite cause him to find his release.

“Wow, that will never get old. The feeling of having your teeth in my neck like that while I am deep inside you.” Parker whispered as he slipped free from her to lay next to her on the couch.

They lay on their sides with her back to his chest. Rayne shivers slightly as her skin cooled after the passion faded. Parker covered her with the discarded blanket. Soon they were both fast asleep.

(**Owen’s POV**)

“You said this would be an easy mark, Owen,” Kerri screamed at him from the passenger seat.

They were parked at a picnic area down the beach from Rayne and Parker’s house. Owen was rubbing his sore throat from the bite his brother gave him. Nothing was going as he planned. Parker was growing suspicious of him, and that pissed him off. He was his brother, why was he second guessing everything Owen told him?

The two of them becoming mates had taken Owen by surprise. What were the odds of them being mates after all this time? This was supposed to be easy, but Rayne was making it hard. She had to be the reason Parker was second guessing Owen’s intentions. That bitch was ruining everything. All he wanted was to come here, rob his brother blind, then leave.

“If you had just kept your lust under control, today would have gone better. Why did you have to go off like that?” Kerri growled at him.

“I couldn’t control it. She is in heat. All I wanted to do was fuck her right there on the deck,” Owen recalled the images that went through his mind as he smelled the intoxicating scent that pumped off Rayne in waves. He got an erection just thinking about it.

“So, you fucked all this up for her? You covet your brother’s mate?”

“No, I don’t want her, Kerri. I had no control over my body’s reaction.”

“Like hell you didn’t, I can smell your lust for her right now. That erection you are sporting is pretty obvious.”

“Then come over here and make it yours,” Owen growl at her. Kerri took him hard and fast to erase Rayne from his mind.