Hakan Severin by Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright Page B

humans, he’d managed to catch his friend’s distinctive scent.
    “Shit.” Parish clenched his hands. “Did he get out?”
    Hakan nodded his head toward the parking lot. “His scent was near the road as if he was carried to a car, so we have to hope he survived.”
    Parish scowled as his phone rang, and hastily yanked it from his pocket.
    “It’s Raphael,” he muttered as he pressed it to his ear and stepped away from the sirens that threatened to pierce Hakan’s sensitive ears. “Yeah, we’re here, but we’re too late,” Parish told the head of the Suits. “The place has been torched.” He listened for a second before his eyes abruptly glowed with the power of his cat. “Shit.”
    Hakan moved to join him as Parish ended the call.
    “I’m afraid to ask,” he muttered.
    Parish turned to head back toward the Jeep. “The Haymore Center just burned to the ground.”
    Hakan swore even as he had to admit from a tactical standpoint it made sense.
    If you feared your secrets had been compromised, then simply get rid of them.
    “They’re brutal, but efficient,” he said.
    “A dangerous enemy.” Parish said, his expression tight with concern. “And I have a nasty suspicion that we’d better find out what the hell they want from us before it’s too late.”
     
    ***
     
    Payton was so weary she could barely keep her eyes open, but it was only Xavier’s threat of having her hogtied and carried home that finally forced her to leave her office and return to her parents’ house.
    Not that she planned to go to bed.
    How could she sleep before she was certain that Hakan had returned safely to the Wildlands?
    Instead, she sought the peace of the small garden that she’d devoted years to creating. This was her sanctuary. The place she went when she needed to think.
    Pacing through the camellias that were loaded with soft, pink flowers, she chewed her thumbnail, her concern growing with every passing hour.
    Where was Hakan?
    He should have returned long ago.
    Unless something had happened to delay him…
    Shadows had shrouded the garden in darkness when Payton at last caught the familiar scent of earthy male musk.
    Without hesitation, she was flying across the garden to throw herself in his open arms.
    “Hakan.” She snuggled against the broad chest that was covered only by a muscle shirt that was tucked into his black jeans, savoring the heat of his skin that was still damp from a recent shower. “I heard about the fire.” She pulled back to study his dark features, her heart squeezing with a love that was impossible to deny. Dear Goddess, if anything had happened to him… “Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine.” His big hands skimmed up her back, his touch gentle, as if she were some fragile treasure he was afraid of hurting. “Unfortunately our one lead is gone.”
    She struggled to concentrate on his words as he pressed her tight against him. Being held in his arms was sending all sorts of delicious sensations zooming through her body.
    Not to mention X-rated thoughts of tumbling him back into the lotus flowers and giving in to her cat’s urge to rub against that huge, beautiful male form until she was saturated in his musk.
    “Now what?” she forced herself to ask.
    He shrugged, looking as distracted as she felt. “We start fresh tomorrow.”
    She nodded, shivering beneath the force of his amber gaze. There was an intense focus about him that made her feel as if he was on the verge of pouncing.
    The question was…would she let him catch her?
    There was no doubt that the hours she’d waited for his return had shaken her.
    What if she’d lost him without having told him just how much she still loved him?
    “Have you eaten?” she abruptly demanded, caught between the urge to simply give in to her fierce desire to complete the mating and the need to make him work for her trust.
    “Not yet,” he said, lowering his arms and stepping back. “I have something I want to show you.”
    Payton frowned,