Free Midnight Matings 13 Splash and Elegance by Gabrielle Evans

jumped to conclusions only to find out that he’d been completely wrong about the situation.
    Jude sighed and flopped down on the sofa beside him. “Just tell me whatever it is you want to say.”
    “Why are we doing this? I mean, why don’t you just go to the elders? Surely they’re not going to let your dad hold Carter prisoner like this.” Whitley had assumed their sneaky behavior had something to do with a bunch of hired guards. When Jude informed him that there were no guards at the house, the first niggling of doubt formed and spread like wildfire from there.
    “Elder Gamble doesn’t want my brother’s existence to leak out any more than my father does. Not only does it prove what a lying, cheating piece of crap my dad is, but it makes Isa look bad as well.”
    “That’s only one elder, Jude. There are plenty of others. Take your pick.”
    Jude shook his head stubbornly. “I can’t risk it. I don’t know how many of them know about this or support Gamble and my father. I can’t risk going to the wrong person. I’d never see Carter again.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Whitley closed his eyes and swallowed down the groan that built in his chest. “Then why are we trying to sneak him out? If there aren’t any guards, then that only leaves your dad to stop us. I’m pretty sure you can overpower him.”
    “And how long do you think it would take him to call Elder Gamble and have UPAC guards breathing down our necks?” Jude was getting angry, but he still wasn’t making any sense as far as Whitley could see.
    “You think he’s not going to know who took him?”
    “He’ll know, but by the time he realizes something’s wrong, we’ll have a head start. We just need to lay low until I figure out who we can trust.”
    If the man hadn’t figured that out in the six months since Carter landed in his life, Whitley doubted he was going to do it before they were caught for kidnapping. Jude was hiding something. Whitley didn’t expect him to spill all his secrets after only a day, but this was different. This was Whitley’s ass on the line if they got caught. He figured if he was putting himself out there for persecution, he at least had the right to know what the hell he was doing it for.
    “I’m going to get some sleep.” Maybe it would make more sense when he woke up, because right now, he wasn’t feeling very friendly toward his mate.
    “Maybe we should get this whole consummation thing out of the way. Then I won’t have to wake you up later, and you can just sleep until my dad leaves.”
    Whitley’s mouth hung open for a second before he snapped it closed. Had Jude seriously just said that? He’d made sex into a chore—something to put on his to-do list. “You know what, Jude?” Whitley closed his eyes and sighed. “Honestly, you can just go fuck yourself.”
    Then he turned and marched out of the room, leaving Jude sputtering behind him. “Of all the stupid, arrogant…” He grumbled under his breath as he navigated the short hallway and stepped into
the only bedroom. Well, at least the place had a bedroom, and he’d be able to get away from his dear mate for a while.
    Closing the door behind him, he shucked his clothes and climbed into bed. His entire body was shaking by the time he’d pulled the blankets up around his shoulders. Never in his life had he said something that rude to another person. He’d just been so hurt and angry that Jude could even think something like that, let alone say it aloud.
    They didn’t know each other well, not yet anyway. Whitley had felt they had a connection, though. At the very least, he figured they had a mutual respect for one another. Neither of them had asked to be thrown together and bonded to each other. Still, Whitley was doing his best to make it work, and Jude’s careless words made him feel like a low-rent prostitute.
    “Whitley?” The bedroom door eased open, and Whitley squeezed his eyes closed. “Whit, I’m sorry. That was