Connor

After a few more rounds, Hope and I passed out with our bodies intertwined late in the night. I got the best night's sleep of my life, and woke to my body curved around Hope's. I nuzzled my face into her neck and breathed in deeply, loving the smell of our scents mixed together. My wolf yawned in my mind and curled up to go back to sleep. I was tempted to do the same, but knew it was time to leave this glorious sex bubble and figure out who the hell is after my girl. Hope stirs in my arms and looks over her shoulder at me, giving me a little smile.

"Good morning, handsome." She says slyly.

Well, maybe a quickie wouldn't hurt.

After a shower, we entered the kitchen together. Dean and Kade were already there drinking coffee and I could tell by their scents they mated last night as well, but I wouldn't be a jerk and point it out. I did smirk at Dean and he smiled back before leaning over to kiss Kade on the neck.

"We gotta get to the cells." Dean says shoveling eggs in his mouth. I nod as I pour Hope some coffee and add her favorite creamer. I learned quickly my wonderful mate is not quite as wonderful before her first cup.

"Right after breakfast we'll head over there." I say and Hope takes the cup from me, giving me a kiss in return.

"Do I have to go again?" She asks taking a sip and I nod, trying not to imagine those lips around my dick.

"Yes, sweetheart. You don't leave my side till we figure this out." I say and Kade nods in agreement.

"You can stay on the first level with Dean and Kade while I go down with Mark. It sounds like his tongue has pretty well loosened, hopefully it won't take long." Hope sighs and I wrap her in my arms. She feels so small and vulnerable compared to me and it kicks my protective instincts up even further. She melts into my body and breathes deeply. I know the stress of the attack has been getting to her, and she's trying her hardest not to let me know she's scared.

'I'm not scared.' She mind links me. 'I know you'll protect me.'

'With my life, Hope.' I say looking into her big blue eyes.

She leans up on her tiptoes to smash her lips to mine. I accept them greedily and she pulls away before it gets too heated. My wolf growls at the loss of contact, so I hug her tightly, trying to appease him until we can be alone again.

"Let's go." I say and scoop Hope up in my arms. She squeals with laughter and holds on to my neck. I love the sound of her laugh, it makes my whole world seem a little brighter.

We make our way to the dungeons and I can't stop my smug look of pride when Kade oohs and aahs at how well thought out and secure it is. Coming from a future head warrior that praise meant quite a lot. I stop at a conference room on the first floor and set Hope down gently on the floor. She doesn't let go, but turns her body to face mine and pushes herself against me. I don't expect the affection, but that makes it even better. I wrap my arms tightly around her waist and lift her so I can tuck my face in her neck. She giggles as her feet lift off the floor and I sway her side to side a little. I set her down and kiss her quickly, only allowing my lips to linger for a moment knowing I won't be able to pull myself away if I stay much longer.

"Please stay here with Kade and Dean. I'll open a link with all four of us. If anything happens, Dean will take you to a safe room. Ok?" I look in her eyes, hoping she's taking this seriously. She nods and goes to sit in between Kade and Dean. Having one of them on each side of her makes me feel a little better.

"I'm serious. I don't even want her in the bathroom by herself." I point to the men and Hope scrunches her nose.

"That's a bit much don't you think?" She asks and I shake my head.

"I'm not taking any chances, stóirín. You're too important." A cute little blush makes it's way on to her cheeks and I can't help but smile.

"OK, ok. Now go and hurry back." She says waving me towards the door. I plant one more kiss to her forehead before leaving the room. I open a link with the four of us.

'Lock the door behind me. Don't let anyone in unless they say the code word.' I say and hear the lock click behind me.

'What's the code word?' Dean asks.

'What do you want it to be, sweetheart?' I ask Hope.

'Marshmallow.' She says with a little giggle and I can't stop my grin while I hear Kade groan in my mind.

'Can't it be something cool like Excalibur?' He asks and Hope laughs again.

'Nope. It's marshmallow. Deal with it.'

'Marshmallow it is.' I say and the link goes quiet.

I walk down the rest of the stairs until I reach the twelfth floor. It smells musty and rank. Years of blood and filth so embedded in the floor it wouldn't matter how hard we cleaned it, it would still stink. Not that we would. The stench is its own form of torture. I find Mark in the flaying room. I thought about offering to let Hope and the guys watch, but after finding out what he was doing to our little rogue friend I knew Hope wouldn't want to see this. I stop at the door where all the screaming is coming from and push it open. The scent of fresh blood, urine and sweat hits my nose and I try not to gag. The rogue is strapped to a table naked, with Mark carving bits of his skin off slow enough to allow his wolf healing to stop the bleeding and keep him from dying.

The man is fucking scary, but talented.

"What has he said?" I ask and Mark stops the expert flicking of his knife.

"Something about an army and an alpha." He grunts and I walk up to the table.

The man is shaking and looks at me with wide, terrified eyes.

"Tell me what you know and I will give you pain medicine and food." I offer him and he nods.

"Is the army of rogues?" I ask and he nods again.

"How many?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"I'm not sure. A lot. But he recruited all different rogue groups and kept us all seperate so there wouldn't be infighting. So I don't know how many."

"What do they want?" I ask. He shudders like he's scared to answer.

"TELL ME!" I bellow and he flinches at my alpha tone.

"Your mate. The healer." He says quietly and I growl loud enough to shake the table. I have to push my wolf back as he presses forward and I begin to shift.

'Kill the fucker!' He growls at me.

'We need to know what he knows.' I try to reason with him. He growls again and begins to pace in my mind.

"Why do they want her? Because she's a healer or because she's my Luna?" I ask through gritted teeth trying to regain my control. My claws and canines are still out, but my fur has receded.

"Neither. Or both I guess." The guy says and I snarl at him. I lean in close and show him my canines. My eyes are surely black now and I can smell the fear rolling off of his pathetic body.

"What the fuck does that mean?" I ask. My voice us lower and gravely, showing him my wolf is very close to the surface.

"He wants her because she's powerful. He wants to... breed with her. He said their pups would be powerful." He's quaking now. No wonder he was so terrified to tell me this. There's no holding my wolf back now. I lift a table that has equipment on it and fling it across the room, breaking it into pieces.

"Alpha. There's more." Mark says not fazed by my reaction."

"What?" I spit at the rogue.

"He's an alpha sir. He seemed... very familiar with your mate. I heard him on the phone with my alpha. He knew her name. What she looks like." He says quietly, avoiding my glare.

My mind reels with who it could be. Surely Hope knows many alphas having traveled all over as a healer. It could be any one of them, granted it's more likely ones that are unmated. I start pacing the room, thinking of all the unmated alphas in the surrounding area. Then a realization hits me like a fist to the gut and my heart nearly stops.

I know exactly who it is.