“Look. I sincerely appreciate you saving my life. I really am indebted to you. And I’m extremely grateful.” I look up into his beautiful, sunset colored eyes that are bright and warm in the morning sun. “But I have a job to do. I can take care of myself. Besides, I’ll be calling my coworkers and I’m sure they’ll send someone out the minute I get in contact.”
“Well, I’m sorry miss I-can-take-care-of-myself, but I’m not letting you out of my sight until I know you’ll be safe. Watching you get blown up once was enough for me. So call your work people or do whatever you have to, but you’re staying with me.”
I laugh. “How? In this old apartment, in the middle of the city? You better bet your ass they know where you live, Hawes.” I poke him straight in the chest for effect, it doesn’t move him an inch and my finger just bounces off his firm pecs.
“Well…” Hawes scratches the back of his hair, looking a little abashed for some unknown reason. “I do have this other place we can go,” he says, speaking nervously. “It’s a lot more secluded. Great security, cameras everywhere, the works. I was thinking of taking you there until we get more information and can make a better decision. In fact, it’d probably be better if you waited to call anyone until we were in a more discreet location.”
Perhaps he’s right. The idea is tempting. Somewhere safe, away from the crowded city. I tell myself it has nothing to do with the prospect of spending more time with Hawes, exploring the strange chemistry between us. Nothing at all. It’s just probably the safest option until I get in touch with the right people.
But practicality kicks in and I can think of a million reasons why I shouldn’t do it. I don’t really know him. I need to stay focused. I’m too attracted to him.
“No,” I say, waving my hands in front of me as if I can wipe the idea away entirely. “No, it’s ludicrous. I need to be where my boss can reach me. And besides, if there is someone waiting for me, I can take care of myself.”
“Oh really…” Hawes looks down at me, almost towering over me at this distance, and cocks an eyebrow in disbelief.
“Of course. I’ve had training. I’m probably safer out there by myself than I am with you,” I protest, motioning at him with my hand. There’s a lot of him to motion at to be honest though.
“You’re not going anywhere without me, Rose,” Hawes says, getting uncomfortably closer. Rising to his full height to challenge me. A thrill of anticipation runs through me, and I back up until my back hits the wall. What is it with this guy and making it impossible to get away.
The worst part is, I don’t even want to.
“Hawes, you can’t make me stay.”
“Can’t I?” He replies. His eyes are narrowed, his tone is sultry. There’s a wealth of hidden meaning in that statement, a challenge that’s about more than just showing him I can put up a fight if I need to.
“You can’t. I’m my own person, and I can take care of myself. Now get out of the way, Hawes, before I make you.”
“Oh?” he raises an eyebrow and flashes his fang with that crooked, sexy smile that makes me weak at the knees. “Make me.”
I swallow, wanting to show him what I can do but wondering if it’s a good idea to touch him. There’s been a tension between us ever since I first laid eyes on him, walking into that dirty underground cage like he owned it.
“Make me,” he says again, leaning closer.
“Fine,” I say, preparing to start. “I will.”
Chapter 8
Rose
Putting my self defense training to work, I whirl around Hawes and twist his wrist behind him, pushing his back forward with my other hand to deepen the lock I have on his arm.
I’ve done this hundreds of times. It’s a sure hold, nobody has ever escaped this lock, due to the angle. I hold him there for a moment, then twist a bit, and I hear Hawes grunt.
“Not so tough, are you now? See? I can take care of myself. I can best you, so I don’t need you,” I say it powerfully, enjoying being the dominant one for once in our relationship.
Hawes laughs, as if he’s just heard a joke and he was the only one who thought it was funny, then somehow begins to slowly to pull his arm down. It’s an unstoppable, slow force. I grab his locked arm with both hands, but my struggle against his sheer strength is useless. Just what is up with this guy?
He gradually twists his wrist straight, then yanks his arm, and me, around in front of him to face him.
“Gotcha,” Hawes says, with a gleam in his eye and raw confidence unlike anything I’ve ever seen. He smiles, his rogue canine looking somehow longer, more wolfish than the other times I’ve seen.
Nobody, man or shifter, has ever been able to do that. It’s both puzzling and scary. The amount of strength that would be required to come out of that lock…
Then I realize I’m basically standing there with both of my hands pulling at Hawes’ one arm.
Before I know what’s happening, Hawes yanks on his arm and spins me in against him. He wraps both of his arms around me, pinning my own at my side. “Now that’s a hold,” he says quietly.
I blink. I’m wrapped and completely encircled by his powerful, but still incredibly gentle, embrace. I feel both completely safe and threatened at the same time. Safe in the large, powerful arms of this sexy, virile shifter, and threatened by the fact that he could do anything he wanted to me. That I would let him.
It’s getting hot in here fast.
I try to resist his arms, but they hold me tight.
“What was that about taking care of yourself again, Rose?” Hawes whispers in my ear, so close that I can feel his soft lips touching me gently, his breath moving over my ear and down my neck. My body responds instantly. My skin is aching to be touched…kissed…
“Let me go,” I say.
“Do you really want me to?” he murmurs. “You stopped struggling.”
“I. Uh. That proves nothing,” I say. My mind is determined to fight my silly, illogical body.
“How about this, then?” Hawes leans around and places a soft kiss at the side of my neck. “Tell me if you want me to stop.”
I go still in his arms at the unexpected but wonderful touch. He’s behind me so I can’t see his face right now, but I know he’s smiling. He sucks gently and I gasp as the skin there comes alive, tingling and warm. He kisses me again, slowly, moving down my neck to the top of my chest, stopping before my breasts, almost to my disappointment. Then back up my neck, to my ear.
He takes the lobe in his mouth, flicks his tongue across it, and then bites gently down. A full body shudder moves through me as I realize heat is building inside me the longer he does this. It’s like I’m not in control of my body.
I’ve always been sensible. I’ve always been practical. Maybe just once, with Hawes, I could let my hair down a little.
His hands are moving too now. Deft and sliding along my shoulders, arms, side, back, wherever he can find as he kisses me senseless, waking up my body and the wolf inside me. He leaves a trail of pleasant fire wherever he touches, filling me with anticipation and a deep wanting for more.
I could walk away now, and my mind tells me I should, before I get in too deep.
But my werewolf is howling and crying out to me, telling me to let him take me, to let him claim me right here, right now. And I want it, very very badly.
Hawes pulls back, saving us both from the moment, and I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. He sighs and nuzzles my cheek with his cheek, then his breath tickles my ear. “Too easy, Rose.”
The sound of my heart landing with a thump in my chest is overpowered by the mixed embarrassment and anger I now feel. I try to wriggle free of Hawes’ arms, but he only holds me tighter.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it,” he says, trying to placate me. He lets me go slowly and I push off of him and turn around to face him.
I slap him across the face.
The sound echoes off the walls and windows, and for a moment we just sta
re at each other, me holding my hand in the air where it sits from having just struck him, and Hawes just staring at me, oddly expressionless.
Hawes then lets out a little cough, shrugs, and walks over to a corner where a shirt is sitting in a pile and puts it on.
“Yeah, I guess I deserved that,” he says nonchalantly. “But it doesn’t change anything.” He walks up to me. “You’re coming with me.”
I’m frankly too stunned by the roller coaster that has been the past 30 seconds to form many cohesive thoughts.
“But, my job. My…stuff,” I manage to stutter.
“Call your boss. I’ll grab your stuff. We’ll get whatever you might need when we get there, but we’re leaving in five minutes, whether you’re ready or not.”
Hawes is all business, and his words are completely serious as he grabs a few things from the room and walks past me to go down the stairs. I’m starting to regain my composure again, and try to make a final stand.
“No, I won’t. This is still completely ridiculous!” I spit out, turning to face him. “Come back here so we can talk about it.”
Standing at the top of the steps, Hawes pauses and looks at me.
“Make me.” Then he grins and gives me an irritating wink and then disappears behind the open door and I can hear his footsteps thumping quickly as he goes down the stairs.
To hell with it, I think. Let’s get out of here before something else happens with this frustrating man.
* * *
Five minutes goes by in an instant, and then Hawes is knocking at the door of the bathroom where I’ve been trying to make myself at least a little bit more presentable. Without my makeup bag there’s not much I can do, and there are still a few light marks from small cuts and bruises, but they’ll be gone before the end of the day. My hair is far from perfect, but I’m able to tie it back into a short ponytail with a rubber band I found a minute ago.
“We’re leaving now, Rose,” Hawes tells me through the door.
“One moment,” I say, trying to finish washing my face.
“I don’t care how much you’re wearing, I’m coming in if you don’t come out. We have to get out of here while it’s still safe.”
I open the door, a towel still in my hand. “Let’s go,” I tell him.
Hawes looks me up and down, then smiles slowly, heat burning in those warm, sunset eyes. I’m wearing the jeans and blue tank top I wore last night that were freshly washed by Hawes. But last night I had a hoodie obscuring my body, today my rather generous curves are bared to his eyes, and clearly not going unnoticed.
He smirks and walks past me to pick up a duffel bag. “You look amazing.”
“Hmph,” I reply, thinking of my lack of makeup and messy appearance.
Hawes opens the door, looks up and down the hall, and then beckons me out of the apartment. He locks it, then heads to an elevator, which we take to the parking lot. We exit and I hear him press a button, and from a small distance I can hear an engine turn on remotely in the parking lot. I follow him, and he stops in front of a gleaming red car.
A red Ferrari, to be exact.
I’m no car buff, but I’ve known affluent people in my life, and this is definitely not a car that someone who does underground cages fights for a living could afford.
He tosses the duffel bag in the trunk, and comes around to the passenger side, opening the door and beckoning me to sit. “Your carriage, milady,” he says in a ridiculous accent.
I roll my eyes and step inside and sit down, enjoying the marvelous black leather interior of the car while he walks around to the other side of the car and gets in. The fine details of the car are a perfect mix with the deep humming of the powerful engine. But then my mind goes back to the more pressing issue.
How in the hell did Hawes buy something like this?
Chapter 9
Hawes
I’m glad we’re finally on the road, Rose and I. She’s been fairly quiet since we got in the car, just looking around at the details and enjoying her comfy seat for the past few minutes.
Though I hate to admit it, it’s nice to have someone else in the car with me for once.
After a few more minutes pass, in which Rose has been in deep thought, she looks over at me suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.
“So, how does a cage fighter with connections to the underworld have a car like this, hm?” she asks.
“First off, and let’s get this straight from the start, I have no connections to the underworld. And second, I bought this car with my own money,” I tell Rose, hoping she believes me.
“Very odd,” she continues, running her hand over the console. “Cars like this run, what, a few hundred thousand?”
“Yes, about that,” I reply, intentionally avoiding going into detail about it.
Rose just stares at me wide-eyed. She’s beautiful when she’s shocked like that. It accentuates her gorgeous blue eyes.
“You better tell me how you’re paying for something like this, or I’ll suspect you of illicit activity,” she tells me, eyes narrowed, as if she’s already indicting me anyway.
“I made some good investments. This baby was bought and paid for in cash. Besides, do you make a point of bugging all the men you meet about their finances, or am I just lucky?”
Rose just sits back into her seat and crosses her arms.
“I knew your family had money, but this is absurd.”
Oh, you have no idea, Rose. “Yeah, it’s the one really nice thing I like to keep around,” I say.
There’s silence for a few minutes as we speed down the highway, then I decide to break the silence.
“So what’s your story? How did you get into the profession of being a stalker fan?”
“I was doing surveillance. On you, to be exact.”
“Ah, so a professional stalker then?” I reply, smiling at her so she knows I’m being playful.
“Sort of… I guess,” she replies, hesitating, as if unsure what to say next. She’s clearly holding a lot back, but she’s conflicted about whether or not to tell me.
I let her stew for a couple of minutes. She’s cute looking so conflicted, biting her lower lip and looking at me with shy eyes.
“Ok, can we cut to the chase and establish a few basics?” I ask. “How about I tell you what I know, and you fill in the blanks you can?”
She nods.
“I’m a shifter. You know that. You’re a shifter. I know that.” Rose looks a bit shocked, but more from the fact that I’m saying it out loud than from the statement itself.
I wait to see if she has anything to add. Nothing.
“You are clearly watching me for some reason, which I don’t know. I’d say you’re involved with the law, but nothing has given me the implication that you’re a part of the human justice system. Obviously someone or something wants me dead. And someone, possibly the same people, want you dead too,” I say, starting to feel like I’m talking to myself because it sounds ridiculous. Rose just sits and listens intently, not interrupting me.
A short pause, then I continue. “Oh, and you’re really beautiful. Especially your eyes.” Rose responds with a puzzled looking face. “Kay, that’s all I got. Your turn. Rose.” I say the last word while raising my eyebrow expectantly.
Rose just sits there for a second, then takes a deep breath. “You’re right, I’m no cop. I work for the Tribunal.”
Well that got serious real quick. “Doing what?”
“Monitoring rogue shifters.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Most of shifter society revolves around the pack structure,” she explains. “Alpha males and alpha females, their subordinates and family members and children. It’s typical for shifters to leave the pack and get education or vocational training so they can provide for their future families, as well as to secure a mate. But often there are young shifters, usually male, that never return to the pack. Some because they’re rebellious and don’t want to. Others get too involved with human society or set
tle down with a human mate and live a normal life, hiding who they are. Some are just unable to find a mate, which is increasingly more common with the rarity of shifter females.”
I try to hide an involuntary wince at that, given how close to home it hits after what happened with Aspen. “Please, continue,” I say, hoping she didn’t notice.
“My department was established to keep an eye on things. Though most often shifters fit into human society pretty normally, sometimes they go rogue. They get involved with, um, unsavory elements.” She throws a glance at me. “And sometimes they need to be taken care of so as not to endanger shifter culture and our way of life.”
“So basically, if a werewolf steps too far out of line, you get rid of him or her?” I ask, eyes widening at the thought.
“Not in so many words. Depending on the scenario, yes. There are several ways to take care of an uncooperative or rebellious shifter. But yes, sometimes,” she replies. “I mean, we can’t risk discovery by the humans.”
I sit for a second, hands on the wheel, and then laugh out loud to myself. “So, I guess I’m pretty high profile, huh?”
“Ha. Hardly,” she says, like she’s worried it will go to my head that I’m some sort of watched rogue. “I’m assigned to many cases at a time. You're just one of them.”
“So what are you, shifter black ops or something?”
“No, the job is mostly surveillance. Sometimes shifters get their act together or return to the pack. I report to the big guys about it. Some we just end up keeping an eye on. Others fall off the grid completely. There are others who manage those cases usually though.”
The way she says others is slightly ominous, but I choose to ignore it. “Interesting. I never thought the Tribunal would have the resources to do that,” I say, thinking out loud.
“Our department has received a lot of funds recently, mostly from your pack, I believe.”
Ultimate Alpha Boxed Set: A BBW and Wolf Shifter collection Page 24
