Inside her bag, her phone started to ring. Casey burrowed through the thing until she found it. “Hello?”
“Casey, how are you?”
“Oh, hey, Amy. I’m good. What’s doing with you?”
“Not much, just got back into town for the start of school on Monday.”
“Me, too,” she exclaimed and how good was it to say those words. “Want to catch up for coffee?”
“When?”
“Now? I’m avoiding unpacking.”
Amy chuckled. “Sure. Meet me at Mocha Bean in ten.”
Hanging up, Casey started in the direction of the café. It was just off campus, but with the number of students who went there, it might as well be part of the student union.
“Is this going to be what I should expect?” Maddox asked.
“What’s that?”
“You just doing things on a whim.”
“This isn’t a whim. I’m meeting a friend.”
“What about the mattress thing?”
She stopped, waiting until he pulled to a halt beside her. “It’s called living, Maddox. I’m not sure you’re familiar with it, but I’m just doing what regular people do.”
“You aren’t regular people, though, are you? You’re the pack’s princess.”
She recoiled. “What?”
He took his time looking her over, and a rush of heat went through her. Shoving that reaction away, she begged for some anger to fill in the spaces but came up short.
“You get your own bodyguard because you’re spoiled enough to demand you live on your own. You have no concept of your own safety or what other people might want. You’re a fucking princess.”
“You have no idea what I’ve been through,” she hissed.
He gave her another once-over, his shrewd eyes missing nothing. “Well, I’ve seen enough. Are you sure you don’t want to skip the coffee and just head straight over to the nail salon? It looks like you’ve lost one of your fake nails.” He made an exaggerated gesture at her fingernails.
Casey curled her hands into a fist, resisting the urge to punch him in his smug face. She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. She didn’t need to explain herself to him. If he thought she was a fucking princess, then that was his problem.
Falling into a quick walk, she made it to the café and sat, waiting for Amy. Maddox took a seat a few tables away, his shark-gray gaze feeling like a physical weight against her skin. She glared at him, but his eyes were flat––dull. He didn’t give a fuck about her. She was simply a job to him. Well, that was fine with her too.
“Casey!” Amy wrapped her arm around her shoulder and squeezed. “It’s so good to see you. How was your holiday break?”
“Hey. Not bad. We didn’t do too much. How was yours?” Pretending to be human could be tough. Her family didn’t vacation because they couldn’t leave the pack house unprotected. Plus, why would they go anywhere? They had everything they needed.
As Amy launched into the details of her own vacation, Casey peered over her shoulder at Maddox. He was still staring at her, but now a cup of coffee was at his elbow. She turned back in time to catch the end of Amy’s story.
“That sounds great.”
Her friend peered around Casey’s shoulder, her gaze following to where Casey had been looking. “I see you’ve already seen something you like.”
“What? No.”
“He’s staring at you like he wants to eat you.”
Casey felt the flush rush up her cheeks. She looked over at Maddox, but there didn’t seem to be any change in his expression. His eyes, though, were very hard.
“I’m not interested in getting tangled up with a guy.”
A waitress came to take their order, and as soon as she was gone, Amy said, “Case, can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
She picked up one of the packets of sugar from the rectangular porcelain bowl between them, shaking it gently. “I’ve never seen you with a guy.”
Suddenly, it was hard for Casey to breathe, but she forced herself to take in a large draw of air to try and steady herself. When she felt like she wasn’t going to be sick, she murmured, “That’s not a question.”
Her friend smiled tightly. “What I mean to say is… are you not interested in guys? Are you more interested in women? It’s totally okay with me if you are.” She rushed out her words, looking down at the table like she couldn’t believe she’d just said all that.
Casey cleared her throat. “I had someone once. We were supposed to get mate… err… get married, but he died.” She shrugged, feeling the weight of her past pressing heavily down on her. “I guess I’m not ready yet.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Casey.” Amy squeezed her forearm. “So sorry. Forget I even said anything.”
“You couldn’t have known, but yeah… this is why I don’t look at men. For me, nobody could ever compare to him.”
“What was his name?”
“Saxon, and he had been my… everything.”
“You must’ve been young when you got engaged.”
Casey’s mind raced. She only looked to be twenty-five or so, but in reality, she was so much older––almost seventy. “We got engaged when we were eighteen.”
“High school sweethearts.” Amy let out a sigh. “I had a serious boyfriend in high school, too. We talked about getting married, but then we went to two different universities. I came here, and he went to UCLA. I tell you when you’re dumb and in love, you make all sorts of promises to each other. We thought the distance wouldn’t be a problem when in reality, it was an issue we couldn’t overcome.”
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out,” Casey murmured. She looked up as the smell of coffee got stronger, relieved to see the waitress coming their way. After their caffeine delivery was done, she took a sip.
Ripping open the sugar packet she’d been playing with, Amy dumped the crystals into her drink and stirred slowly. “Some other friends of mine and I are going out tonight. You want to come?”
Chapter Two
Maddox finished off his espresso and placed the cup back down onto the table with a little more force than necessary. He wasn’t in the habit of eavesdropping on conversations, but he’d been unable to stop himself when Casey and her friend started talking about males. Naturally, her friend had thought he was staring at Casey because he was interested in her, but not for the reasons she thought.
He was the female’s bodyguard for the next two years. When his alpha, Hamish, had told him about the assignment, he hadn’t wanted to take the job. Who the hell could he look after? He’d barely taken care of himself when he was growing up. And even then, he’d been forced into it. He had to do it since his mom left when he was about ten, and his dad started beating the crap out of him when the feeling took him. Usually, it was when he was drunk, but there were a handful of times when all he’d needed to get in the mood was one look or word from Maddox.
One.
Wrong.
Word.
For a werewolf, getting rip-roaring drunk was less a matter of consuming one bottle of whisky but more about consuming half a dozen, and when his father made it his mission to make six bottles of Jack’s finest vanish, Maddox knew he’d be in for a beating.
The thing with his dad, though, Maddox could never tell when the beating was going to come. It wasn’t when he was yelling and screaming. It was those quiet times when his father had been so sure of his anger that he hadn’t needed an auditory outlet. All he’d needed was his fists and the opening.
So, yeah, now he was here, watching the princess of the Alfheim Wolves.
He knew this was a test. Maddox was the first to admit he had anger issues, but he knew exactly where those had come from. After fighting… a lot… Hamish had given him an ultimatum—sort his shit out and become a functioning member of the Ash River Pack or find a new pack who tolerated his brand of justice. The thought of leaving his pack wasn’t a pleasant one, so he agreed to the two-year gig.
; He stared at Casey again and prayed the next two years weren’t going to be filled with parties and double dates.
Fuck. He could not handle that shit.
“Can I get you anything else?” the waitress asked, appearing at his table like a wisp of smoke.
“Can I get a club sandwich to go, please?”
“Sure. Bacon or ham?”
“Bacon.”
“I’ll bring it right out,” she replied in a chipper voice that grated on his ears. She waltzed away with a bounce in her step, and he figured she was one of those perennially happy people––the kind who made you want to blow your own brains out because anything was better than listening to how amazing their life was.
#blessed.
His gaze made its way back to Casey, or at least where Casey had been. Now, it was nothing but an empty seat. He stood up from the table, rattling his empty cup on the saucer, and stalked to the friend.
“Where did she go?” he demanded.
The friend’s eyes flared, her fear joining the ocular shock train a moment later. It swirled between them, making him toggle down a gear. Having her scared wasn’t going to make her talk.
“Where did she go? The redhead you were with,” he said, lowering his voice and his anger.
The girl shook her head. “I’m not telling you, you psycho.”
Grinding his teeth, he inhaled deeply. Let it out sharply. “I’m supposed to be with her twenty-four-seven. It’s my job, so where did she go?”
“Why would she need a bodyguard?”
Right, now he was getting pissed off. He was used to humans doing as they were told. “That’s something you’re going to have to ask her. Where. Did. She. Go?”
“I’m right here,” Casey answered tersely.
His head jerked up, his eyes narrowing on the female’s face as she calmly walked back to the table.
“I just went to the restroom. You can chill.”
With a barely restrained snarl, he jabbed his finger at her. “Stay where I can see you and tell me when you have to use the restroom. I need to be with you.”
She gave him a fuck-off look that made his dick twitch. Crossing her arms, she demanded, “Firstly, apologize to Amy for yelling at her.”
Although everything in his rebellious heart was screaming at him not to break, he wasn’t an idiot. Casey wouldn’t let him slide with this, and in the interest of not signing up for hell for the next two years, he decided to be smart for once.
Turning his eyes to the human, he muttered a quick, “Sorry.”
“Secondly,” Casey continued. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. And if I need to go to the restroom, I’m damn-well going, and it won’t be with you looming over the stall.”
“I wouldn’t be looming over the stall, princess. I’d be waiting outside. I do have some measure of decency.”
“Funny, I haven’t seen any yet.” She sat back down and focused her attention on the woman. With nothing more to say, he turned around and walked back to his table. As soon as he sat, he heard the whispers start. He didn’t give a fuck what Casey had to tell the woman in order to cover up his reaction. She should’ve told him where she was going. It was essential information if he was to do his job properly.
A brown paper bag was placed on his table, along with his bill.
“I’ll cover that table, too,” he told the waitress.
The woman looked over at the table number and nodded. “You got it.” She was back a minute later with the little slip of paper.
Maddox paid both bills, then folded his arms over his chest and waited. Casey couldn’t be too much longer here. Seriously, there was only so much coffee one person could drink.
When the two women stood up and hugged, he grabbed his sandwich and waited for them to walk to the door. The human glanced over her shoulder at him, her brown eyes narrowing like he carried the plague. He wondered what Casey had told her to cover his behavior.
Outside, he stood off to the side, keeping his eyes on their surroundings. Words were said. Blah, blah, blah. Hugs were given, then Casey turned to him with fire in her green eyes.
“You’re an asshole,” she snarled, stomping straight past him and in the direction of their apartment.
He fell into step a few feet behind her, his eyes tracking down her body. She was practically marching down the sidewalk, her anger jacking her up until self-righteous was the air she breathed.
“Why am I an asshole?”
Her shoulders hitched up as she took a breath. “Because you are. I’m surprised nobody else has ever told you before now.”
“My dad was particularly fond of that description of me,” he muttered under his breath. Yeah, the male used to hurl those words at him right before his fists began to fly. Unwilling to get sucked into that rabbit hole of bad fucking memories, he cleared his throat. “You should’ve told me where you were going.”
“I didn’t realize I had to say I needed the restroom. Want me to scream it across the café next time?” She came to a stop, spinning around and pinning him with that angry stare. “Or maybe you’d want me to get it written in the sky. I know! Smoke signals.” She spun back around on her heel.
He blinked after her for a moment, then got with the program. Yeah, so redheads definitely had their angry streak. He just didn’t expect to find it such a fucking turn-on. “Are you always this nuclear?”
“Only when I’m pissed off, and you seem to bring that out in me.”
“How can you say that? You’ve only known me for a whole fifteen hours, including our first meeting.”
“I’m a very good judge of character.”
He kept his trap shut for the rest of the walk back to their apartment. When they arrived back, Casey marched into her bedroom and slammed the door in his face.
Chapter Three
Casey smoothed out the silver dress over her hips and thighs. It was a little tighter than she was used to, but she wanted her first college party to be E.P.I.C. Leaning closer to the mirror, she applied a little more lipstick to her mouth, touched up her makeup, then sat down on the bed to put on her heels.
Maddox didn’t know where they were going tonight. After returning home from the café teed off and itching for a fight, she’d locked herself away, only to emerge about an hour ago to tell him they were going out.
He’d looked pissed off at the plans and muttered derisively, “Whatever you want to do, princess.”
Fuck, living with him was going to be hard.
There was so much anger in him. Just the slightest thing nudged him over the edge. Oliver said the male was here for experience, and she hoped it was to gain better control of that rage.
Sliding her arms into a jacket and stepping from her room, she walked into the living room and stopped abruptly. Maddox was standing by the window, looking out onto the street below. Dressed in black slacks and a black button-down, his body filled his clothes like they’d had been tailor-made for him. Across his shoulders was a holster as well as a knife attached at his hip. His feet were plugged into black leather combat boots, and Casey had no doubt he had another weapon or two stashed in there.
Seriously, did her brother think she was living in a warzone, where abductions were rife? This was college. The most dangerous thing to happen here was getting food poisoning from dorm-room cooking.
Casey went into the kitchen to grab a drink. Pulling a glass down from the overhead cupboard, she turned to fill it at the faucet and found Maddox staring at her. His sharp gray eyes wandered lazily around her face and down her body. They lingered on her hips for the briefest moment before returning to her face.
She drained the glass and placed the empty into the sink. “Are you ready?”
He nodded. “How long do you think we’re going to be out?”
“Why? You got a hot date or something?”
With a tight jaw, he checked over each of the Glocks under his arms, moving with confidence and efficiently. “No.”
“So why do you need to
know how long we’ll be out?”
Reholstering the weapons, he grabbed his pea coat off the back of the couch and put it on. Once again, there was no flare out of the fabric, which meant he had more sharp-and-deadly things stashed in there too.
“The longer we’re out increases the risks of something happening to you. My job is to keep you safe.” He walked to the apartment door and stuck his head out into the hall. Seemingly satisfied there wasn’t a sniper perched out there or a suicide bomber lying in wait, he opened the door fully and ushered her out.
As she passed through the jambs, she stopped. “You need to simmer down with the bodyguard routine tonight. I can’t have you scaring my friends like you scared Amy at the café.”
Those flinty eyes of his narrowed on her face. “I won’t have to scare them if you don’t disappear on me without telling me where you’re going.”
Casey fought the urge to roll her eyes. Males of the species were unbearable sometimes, but Maddox was taking it to a whole new level. “All right. I’ll tell you when I have to use the restroom.”
But that would be his one and only concession.
Maddox locked the door behind them and followed at her back as she went down the stairs. She had to take it a little slower than normal on account of the heels, and she had a feeling this was going to be the first and last time she would wear these ridiculous shoes.
“Where are we going exactly?” he asked, holding open the lobby door for her once he’d done his visual check of the street.
She gave him a sideways look, wondering why he was suddenly using his manners. “It’s in one of the frat houses, so not too far away.”
“Jesus,” he muttered just loud enough for her to hear.
“Got a problem with that?”
“Yeah. Why would you want to go and hang with a bunch of sweaty, beer-sucking frat boys?”
“There’ll be girls there, too,” she shot back, crossing her arms over her chest. “Maybe you might see one you like.”
“I’m here to do a job, princess, not fuck around with humans.”
Casey’s mouth thinned into a hard line. Princess. What a fucking hateful term for him to use. Shaking off the jab, she said, “Fine. Have it your way but know that I’m going to take full advantage of this opportunity.”
The Helheim Wolf Pack Novellas: The Complete Collection Page 30
