I dug my fingernails into the top of his hand, able to touch skin there, as my head started to swim in unforgiving dizziness. The wolf-man didn’t flinch at all, even as blood stained my fingertips. I kept digging in, again and again, his skin constantly healing in a blink.
My eyelids fluttered shut. The darkness crept in.
Wolfe stopped growling, sucking in a large lungful of oxygen, then growled all over again. It was strange. Perhaps I had dreamt it as I slumped in his arms and my hands fell to my sides, but the growling stopped as suddenly as it had started again. Wolfe dipped his head and placed the tip of his nose to the top of my head and inhaled heavily.
His muscled arm flew away from my throat, catching me in a cradle against his body. Swept under into oblivion, the last words I heard him mutter were, “Fuck. Me.”
CHAPTER NINE
“Ugh,” I groaned as my eyes cracked open into semi-darkness. My hands grabbed my throat, the flesh extremely tender to the touch. I ran my right palm over my bruised skin as memories swirled through my mind—the choking and, apparently, being taken as a prisoner. With much trepidation, I tipped my head to the side where the sound of light breathing could be heard. “Who’s there?”
A shadow shifted on a chair next to the bed I lay on.
A little click, then sudden light blinded me.
I squinted at the person sitting next to me.
As their features came into focus, I hissed, “Shit.”
Poppy Carvene leaned forward and placed her elbows on the bed directly next to my head. She ran a single digit over the right side of my neck, pressing down deeply into the bruise there. I flinched and gripped the sheets underneath me, trying to hold still so I could figure out what I was going to do. I wasn’t chained to the bed, nothing physically keeping me here. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see an open door leading to areas unknown.
Poppy’s bloodshot eyes stared down into mine. Her voice was hoarse as she asked, “I’m told you know everything about us. Is that correct?”
I swallowed, the action pushing her finger on my throat up then down on my sore skin. “Yes.”
Christ. I sounded even worse than she did.
The difference between immortals and mortals, I supposed.
“Do you know who my mate was?” she probed.
“Godric King.”
“Do you know how he died?”
My slow blink was idiotic. “Um, no. It would have to be a seer or his mate, though. Joshua Striker told me he was a king. I believe he called him ‘the aberration king.’”
Poppy’s delicate features didn’t change, a solid void of nothing showing. Only her eyes that continued to fill with tears that never fell showed any of her inner turmoil.
She stated, “So you don’t know everything about us. Allow me to enlighten you on what Joshua fucking Striker left out. I can imagine the parts that he would so he could play nice with you. Stop me anytime you’ve heard this before.”
The redhead told me a tale so horrifying I couldn’t not listen to it, my heart in my throat from each one of Joshua Striker’s demented games played on the innocent. Poppy never stopped pushing down on my bruise the entire time either, rubbing harder and harder with each sentence spoken on a raw throat. Her tears finally fell as she spoke of Cassander’s death, the fever pitch emotion alarming on her pretty face.
If I hadn’t known any better, I would have said that she’d loved Cassander more than she’d loved Godric. Perhaps that was true. Her time with Godric was so short versus her time spent with Cassander. Either way, both men were dead, and it wasn’t my love to judge. She had lost both men.
Poppy eventually cleared her throat, her eyes still on my horrified gaze. She shook her head and leaned back, that prodding finger of hers yanked back from my flesh. Her lips parted, and she spoke no louder than a whisper.
“Theron, Wolfe,” she called out. “She knew nothing. She’s not on Joshua’s side. He only told her the basics.”
Two men instantly entered the bedroom I was in.
Theron and Wolfe.
In a flash, I scooted up on the bed, slamming my back against the headboard. My right hand immediately went to my throat, protecting my injured flesh. The air shimmered around me with tension—my own. I croaked a harsh demand, “Don’t come any closer!”
Theron stuffed his hands down into the pockets of a pair of gray sweatpants, a white shirt hugging his upper body. “Seeing as you are in my house, Noelle, I don’t think I’ll be taking any orders from you.”
Wolfe had lost his suit jacket somewhere. The sleeves of his dress shirt were rolled up to his elbows, his arms crossed over his chest. His biceps were tense and pulling at the seams of his shirt. His lush lips were drawn into a tight line, tension radiating off him as he blatantly eyed my person but kept his thoughts to himself.
Poppy rolled her head back and stared at the ceiling. “I still wish I could kill her.”
Theron shrugged his right shoulder. “I might let you. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
Wolfe’s shoulders tensed the barest bit. Lips still shut tight.
I pressed harder against the headboard, truly understanding that the king shifter was serious, terror now rolling off me. Both shifters inhaled deeply, their regard not moving from my frozen form. My eyes flicked with fear back and forth between Theron and Poppy. I had to think of a way to get out of this mess.
I bit my bottom lip, then rushed to say, “I know where you can find Joshua. I’ll tell you if you let me go.”
Still staring at the ceiling, Poppy muttered, “Why do prisoners always try to lie their way out of their shit?”
“I’m not lying,” I argued gruffly, and scowled hard at her upturned face. “And if you kill me, you’ll be killing someone innocent. If you put your feelings aside for the dead, you would see that. Did I publish the article? Yes. Was it damning information? No. It was your choice and Theron’s and Cassander’s choice to follow me to King Western Province. Own up to your own shit, instead of throwing your pain on someone else.”
Poppy’s head dropped down; her calculating gaze ran over my features. “Theron, she may not be as dumb as we originally thought.”
The Ancient king hummed. “I think you’re right.”
Wolfe grunted and slowly stepped toward me, placing himself front and center. “Noelle, do you really know where he will be next?”
I nodded once. “I do.”
“And you’ll tell us in exchange for your freedom?”
“I will.”
Golden eyes narrowed into cold ruthlessness. “In the future, do you plan to write any articles about the shifter species?”
My teeth ground together. “If I do, that’s my right.”
Poppy shook her head in exasperation. “And…I revoke the intelligent comment.” Her brown gaze swept over my stubborn countenance. “Or, perhaps, someone took away her free will when she was younger, and she won’t let go of what she has now even to save her own life.”
My nostrils flared in humiliation. I shoved my way out of the bed, placing the monstrosity of a bed between everyone else and me. I hurled harsh words directly at her. “How the fuck did you find my file? I can’t imagine a little princess like you crawling into the hole where you’d have to go to find it. Color me surprised. You’re a little freak. What outfit did the owner make you wear to gain access to the file? The little pink dots or the yellow roses?”
Poppy’s features blanked completely, hiding whatever her true feelings were behind a pretty mask. She opened her mouth, and then snapped it shut. Her lips parted again, but nothing came out—except perhaps an odd gurgle.
Eventually, in the stillness of the room, with my hard gaze on her, she mumbled, “Actually, I’m not the princess. That’s Megan. I’m the soldier.”
What the fuck?
I bent over and screamed, “What the hell are you talking about, you fucking cunt? How did you get my file?”
The entire room turned ominously silent.
They were all staring at me with varying expressions.
I charged at the door, shoving Theron in his side as hard as I could and knocking the shocked man over a step. The doorway was so close. So damned close. I was almost there. One more step—
Solid arms I knew all too well lifted me up off the floor and crushed me to a muscled chest. Wolfe ordered against my ear, “Calm down, Noelle. Just calm down.”
“No!” I shouted, struggling like a wet cat in his arms. Fierce and cruel, I struck out at the wolf-man with every known defensive strike I knew. With my thumbs digging at his eye sockets, his eyes closed tight against the pressure, I roared, “Let me out of here! I can’t take it. Let me go!”
Theron barked in clear annoyance. “This is ridiculous. Knock her out again, Wolfe.”
“I won’t hurt her again,” Wolfe stated calmly, even as I attempted to knee him in the groin and tear off his left ear at the same time. He easily shook off each strike I delivered, his arms…hard…yet gentle in their hold on me. “Noelle, you need to calm down.”
The hell with that. I socked him right in his left eye.
Finally, I’d landed a hit.
Too bad it didn’t loosen his grip on me.
Theron muttered, “Why the fuck won’t you?”
Wolfe tipped his head to the side, evading another sharp jab to his face. I spat in his mouth when he opened it to speak, startling him enough that I almost had a chance to get free. Instead, he simply hoisted my struggling and furious frame back up, swallowed my spit, and groused in aggravation, clearly not wanting to speak, “Because she smells like damned pine needles, and, uh, sweet dreams to me. Okay? Now, fuck the hell off. I’m taking her downstairs and letting her go.”
I stopped fighting instantly at his words, my muscles utterly spent from taking shots at him. My head lolled back so that I could stare into his golden eyes, my body still suspended in the air by his unrelenting grip. Without the hostility thrown my way, his eyes were arresting as he peered down at me. I knew a deadly predator lay in wait inside him, but they looked so…nice?
There was seriously something wrong with me.
And did I really think it was sexy that he said I smelled like pine needles and sweet dreams? That was really an odd mixture, not many yums in there, only a bunch of ouches and snoozes.
Yet, yeah, I still thought it was sensual coming from him.
I sucked oxygen into my struggling lungs. “Really? You’re letting me go?”
Poppy choked on air. “Oh…fuck.”
Theron rubbed at his forehead and scowled at the ground. “This is a problem, Wolfe. She doesn’t give a shit about us.”
“So I’ve noticed.” Wolfe’s lush lips twisted into a sneer, his gentle gaze turning into something ugly. All aimed at me. His heartbeat thundered underneath my right palm pressed against his chest. “Tell us where Joshua is going to be?”
I snarled right back at him. “You’ll let me leave right now like you said a minute before?”
“You have my word.”
“He wants to meet with Poppy and me at my burned apartment in a day’s time. He said it was imperative that we not miss that date. Something about Poppy would hate to miss the meeting.”
The redhead popped up from her chair, growling, “Did he say why he wanted me there?”
I still only had eyes for the golden orbs staring down at me. “No, he only said that you would regret not being there. Or something to that effect.”
“Damn it.” Poppy huffed.
My brows furrowed with an errant memory. “Does anyone know who the puppet master is? He said the puppet master wasn’t happy with his actions, and I think he was in pain somehow from it. It sure looked like the devil was hurting. Not that I minded that part, but it did make me curious.”
Theron was still glaring at the floor with hands now on his hips. “We’ve heard him mention it before. I’ve come to the conclusion he either means his mind or the magic that resides in all shifters and mates.”
“Oh.” I blinked out of the spell that those golden eyes had on me enough to pat my hands on his hard pecs. “We had a deal. Let me down.”
“A deal’s a deal.” Wolfe practically dropped me on my ass, but at the last minute, he grabbed my shoulders to steady my wobbling, tired bones. Those strong hands gripped my shoulders tightly, holding me in place, seeming lost in thought. Then his sharp features pinched up, as if he were in pain with what he was about to say, and pushed words through his teeth, “Do you have a place to stay in New City since your apartment is ruined?”
“I can get a place. I’m not poor.”
“I know that already.” Damn hacker…that was my job. “But do you have a safe place you can stay?”
I dipped and pulled out of his hold and took a step backward out past the doorway and into the hallway. He didn’t try to stop me. Perhaps he was a man of his word. I stated honestly, “I’ll probably book a room at a hotel close to my old apartment. I’m comfortable with that area. Most of those hotels have security.”
The muscles on the sides of his cheeks stood out in sharp relief as he ran his fingers on his left hand back through his gray hair, pulling it away from his face. I barely kept my jaw from dropping. The man was even more beautiful when his face wasn’t half covered by his dangling hair.
Theron muttered a curse under his breath, as Wolfe and I stood utterly still and eyed one another—a little friendly, a little foe.
Wolfe’s fingers continued to yank back on his hair like he wanted to pull whatever he was thinking out of his brain. He spat out, “Is there any way you can forget about me choking the breath out of you? I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’d like you to try.”
Poppy slapped her hand over her mouth and swiftly turned toward a window, her shoulders shaking in her silent and contained mirth.
Theron groaned under his breath like Wolfe was hurting his soul, shaking his head and staring at the back of Wolfe’s head like he wanted to smack him.
I cleared my throat and took another step back, almost to the stairs. “Not likely, Wolfe.”
“I figured as much,” he muttered so quietly I almost didn’t hear him. The wolf-man straightened his shoulders and released his hair, and spoke more loudly this time. “I need to say this much then. I apologize, Noelle. I won’t hurt you again, not intentionally anyway. I give you my word.”
I nodded in confusion. I think I had missed something important for this man to apologize to me. “And if I decide to publish any articles related to shifters or mates?”
This time, Theron looked like he wanted to slap me. “Wolfe, fix this shit before it becomes even more of an issue.”
Wolf-man lifted his hand, shushing the king to his people, his now narrowed eyes focused solely on me. “I have faith in you, Noelle. I think you know, deep in your heart and mind, that publishing anything of that nature could have devastating effects for humans, shifters, and mates, alike.”
I merely arched one dark eyebrow. “What’s your real answer, Wolfe?”
One side of his mouth curved up into a cruel and vicious smile. He replied in a deadly whisper, “Nothing of that nature will ever be published. I’ve set up protocols for it now. Poof. It will just erase from the internet as soon as the writer hits publish.”
“That is censorship,” I argued hotly.
“It’s global security, Noelle. And if you didn’t know it already, my friends and I rule this fucking world. We own it. We can do as we please, including hiding the truth to keep everyone safe and alive.”
“You’re a disgusting pig.”
“No, I’m a damn wolf.” He jammed his finger toward the stairs. “You can leave now. Your luggage is by the front door.”
I glared a second longer, then spun on my heel and marched down the stairs. Somewhere in the back of my brain, I noted that Theron, the owner of King Corporation, had a very nice yet incredibly humble home. Not one ounce of ostentatio
n surrounded any item inside. I grabbed the handle of my luggage and slammed out the front door.
Wolfe Cooper was a damn tyrant. Jackass!
A handsome jackass. But still a jackass.
And a jackass who had saved my life in there…
CHAPTER TEN
“One room, please,” I requested.
New City Seasons Hotel was only four blocks away from my previous apartment and had the fastest web service available. I wiped my face free of dripping water. A downpour of freezing cold rain had caught me on my way from the public transport to the hotel’s front door. I was completely soaked and ready for a hot shower.
The frilly dressed front attendant asked, “One bed or two?”
I glanced down at my luggage. All my clothes would need to be laid out to get rid of the wrinkles. “Two, I guess.”
The sun was only a few hours from rising, so I wasn’t surprised when the woman stated, “If you plan to stay after 10:00AM, you’ll need to pay for another night.”
“Book the room for a week.” I swiped my bracelet over the pay screen, forwarding the units in advance. “What time will room service be available?”
“At seven a.m.…” Her eyes widened as my name scrolled across her hologram. “Are you the Noelle Harvey who published that article on Mr. King—”
I held up a quick stopping hand, cutting off her tirade of excitement. “I would appreciate your discretion as to my whereabouts. I’d hate to notify your manager that I believed you were giving out a guest’s information to the public.”
Instantly, the attendant nodded her head frantically. “Of course. Of course.” Her grin took up half her damn face. She winked, and then whispered, “Your secret is safe with me.”
I sure hoped so. The last thing I needed was rabid readers outside my hotel door, begging for more information. “Thank you.”
Trap Page 5
