house.
When Marisol heard the front door slam, she blindly reached for one of the coffee
mugs on the counter and hurled it at Stephan. She’d had enough wolves lie to her to
last a lifetime. “You lying son of a bitch! Is this some kind of game?”
“I can explain!” He ducked out of the way and the mug smashed against the wall.
Before the broken shards had even hit the floor, she picked up another mug. As she
hauled back to throw it, he grabbed her and held her arms by her side. Using the extra
body weight he had on her, he shifted and pinned her against the island counter.
Despite his strength, she struggled against him. “Let me go, you bastard!” she
shrieked. Against her will, a sob tore from her throat and tears started to fall. Everyone
was a liar! Even her mate.
“Don’t cry! Shit, kardia mou , don’t cry.” He started to loosen his hold but when he
did she got an arm free and punched at his chest.
There was no give to the broad expanse of his muscles, but it made her feel better.
Since he wasn’t holding her legs, she lashed out and kicked him in the shin. He winced
but she doubted it even fazed him. “You lying piece of shit! I’m leaving.” She tried to
kick him again, but he hooked his much larger leg around the back of her knees,
immobilizing her. She wiggled again. In that instant, she hated how short she was. If
she could just get a leg free…
“I’m an undercover agent for the DEA!” he shouted in her ear.
She stopped fighting and her head snapped up at the admission. “What?”
“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He released his grip and pushed away from her.
Stephan turned his back to Marisol. He was in such deep shit he couldn’t even wrap
his mind around it. This woman might be his intended mate, but that didn’t matter. He
34
Worth the Risk
didn’t know anything about her. It was doubtful, but for all he knew, she was a mole
for Perez.
When she’d said she was leaving, something inside him had snapped. He couldn’t
lose her. Not when he’d just found her.
He swiveled back to face her. She still stood next to the island. Her hands were
clasped so tightly in front of her, her knuckles had turned white. They faced off, neither
saying anything. Hell, he didn’t know where to start.
Finally she broke the silence. “So, you’re not an arms dealer, huh?” Her quiet voice
seemed overly loud in the even quieter room.
“Nope.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“Why would I bring you to my family’s home? When I realized who you were, I
wanted to keep you safe. Stephan Vasquez doesn’t care about women, but Stephan Lazos
cares about his mate. I couldn’t let Perez know you meant anything to me so I brought
you here. I sure as hell didn’t plan for you to meet my sister-in-law.”
She stared hard at him for a moment then nervously rubbed her hands over the
front of her pants. Even though she held his gaze, a light blush of pink stained her
cheeks. “Sorry about your coffee mug.”
“That’s the least of my worries,” he muttered. He might have just screwed up one
of the biggest takedowns he’d ever been involved with. It had taken decades to find a
job he enjoyed. Hiding the fact that he was a werewolf was hard enough. He wasn’t
even sure how he was going to tell his boss that his cover was blown.
“I’m not going to tell anyone.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“What?”
“I won’t… I’m not going to tell anyone who you are if that’s what you’re worried
about. There’s no one I could tell even if I wanted to.”
Her last statement caught his attention. “What pack are you from? No lies.”
35
Savannah Stuart
“Tell me about yours first…please.” The pleading note in her voice tore at his gut.
Standing in front of him, she suddenly looked lost and impossibly young. By shifter
standards he guessed she was close to a hundred, but she looked to be about twenty-
two. Without the makeup