Her Siberian Shifter

by Faye Avalon

  EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2018 Faye Avalon

  ISBN: 978-1-77339-744-3

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Karyn White

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  HER SIBERIAN SHIFTER

  Faye Avalon

  Copyright © 2018

  Chapter One

  He had found her.

  The knowledge pierced like a blade between Connie Duncan’s ribs, and she barely held it together enough to step back behind the bar before her knees gave way. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes and focused on taking slow, deep breaths.

  She had been so careful. Had covered her tracks like a professional. She hadn’t worked for one of Europe’s top security consultancies for a year and not learned anything.

  But, of course, he was better. An expert. The expert. And why wouldn’t he be? Not only did he own that top security consultancy, but he had skills and abilities beyond the scope of any human counterpart.

  Connie’s stomach pitched. Oh God. He had found her.

  “You okay?” Trina, her friend and fellow bar staff, came alongside and eyed Connie with concern. “You’ve gone pale, and you’re shaking.”

  “I’m okay. Just felt a little dizzy for a moment. I skipped lunch and forgot to grab something before my shift.”

  Nobody knew that Connie was in hiding. Nobody knew what horror she had faced. If she told anyone she would likely be certified as insane. It was outrageous. Freaking unbelievable.

  “Go take your break and I’ll bring you something.”

  Relieved to have been given an out, Connie headed for the door behind the bar marked Private, fearing that any moment Darius would come storming around the corner and demand to know why his staff seemed to be having themselves a friendly tête-à-tête when the club was jammed to the rafters with patrons. She really couldn’t afford to lose her job. With no time to apply for a visa or to go through the normal channels to find a job abroad, she’d fled to Milan with only meager savings in her purse. The fact was, she’d barely had time to pack essentials and grab her passport, terrified that he’d find out she was gone.

  She’d all but stumbled into Darius’s club one night after her umpteenth rejection for work through regular channels. With no visa and no permanent address, she had been viewed with suspicion, to say the least. But Darius had taken pity on her. She’d been thankful at the time, but since then she’d realized his pity came at a price. Darius employed people like herself, those who couldn’t find work through the normal channels for one reason or another. He paid them cash, asked no questions … but in doing so managed to get away with paying a paltry hourly rate and demanding long working hours. Since he had also given Connie a small box room above the bar in which to stay, docking her crappy pay in the bargain, she knew that in many ways she had become no less his captive than that of the man she had escaped from. The man who was currently outside, his dark gray eyes no doubt scanning the bar for sight of his prey, all his senses on full alert as he searched for what he wanted. Her.

  Connie blew out a breath. Her whole body was burning up, but at the same time she shivered with fear. Keeping her job was the least of her troubles now. She would have to move on. She would have to pack up her things, buy a ticket on the next train out of Milan, and escape. Again.

  She hurried toward the back of the building and up the stairs to her room, mentally totting up how much cash she had in hand. Unfortunately, she would have to forfeit two nights’ money, seeing as Darius paid them every third night and he wasn’t due to do so until the next day. Briefly, Connie wondered about waiting one more night, but there was just no way she could take the chance.

  With Connie halfway to packing her bag, Trina knocked on Connie’s door. “Here you go, hon,” she said through the door. “Grabbed you a chicken sandwich. Darius said to lie down for an hour or so. I think he must have had a seizure, or something.”

  Connie stuffed the bag under the bed and went to open the door. Trina stood holding out a plate, a deep frown on her pretty face. “You’re still trembling. You sure you’re really okay? Do you want me to call a doctor?”

  “No. There’s really no need.” Willing her hand to stop shaking, Connie took the plate. “I’ll be fine.”

  Trina didn’t seem convinced, but she nodded. “Okay. Let me know if I can get you anything else.”

  “I will.” Connie forced a smile. “Thanks for the sandwich.”

  She closed the door, feeling a sweep of sadness that she wouldn’t see Trina again. But it couldn’t be helped. Maybe this would be her life now. Running. Escaping. Running again. She had spent the past month looking over her shoulder. Had dared to believe that she might have achieved her freedom, that she had escaped the nightmare she had unwittingly fallen into. That he might have simply given up on her and moved on to someone else.

  You are mine, milaya. You belong to me.

  Her insides trembled at the memory of his words, spoken so thickly and accented by the cadence of his Russian heritage. The night he had said them, she had believed herself to be the luckiest of women, swamped by a feeling of unimaginable pleasure in his arms, a feeling of safety, security. The way he touched her, made love to her. And then he had said that she belonged to him. That she was his. It was all so perfect.

  But it had all been a lie. He had been a lie. For he was a monster. A man who wasn’t really a man, but a beast who had possessed her. Who had enthralled her with his magnetism.

  She had seen who he really was. What he really was.

  Then she had run.

  Having stuffed the last of her clothes into her bag, she grabbed her jacket from the wardrobe. As she reached the door, she thought to write Trina a note. Darius, too. She owed him that. In his machismo way, he’d helped her when she’d needed it most.

  With both notes scribbled and propped on the bedside table, Connie made for the door again.

  The sharp tap made her jump back a step, and hurriedly she slipped out of her jacket and tossed it, along with her bag, to the side where they couldn’t be seen from the opened door.

  She opened it, a smile on her face for Trina, but froze in place when she saw who stood on the other side.

  ****

  Tor Vladimir ignored the unexpected punch to his stomach as he looked down at the woman for whom he’d been searching for the past four weeks. That it had taken him so long sniped at both his ability as a security expert and his preternatural ability to track prey. He had never had cause to question either. But since Connie had run from him, he had found it difficult to focus on anything but finding her.

  “Well, look who we have here,” he said and raised his eyebrows. “And hiding in some sleazy club in central Milan. I’m disappointed, milaya. Didn’t being with me teach you anything about living in style and comfort?”

  He saw her swallow, her delicate throat contracting, but her chin came up. “What do you want, Tor?”

  “That’s a loaded question.” And if he answered it honestly, it would no doubt have her running for the surrounding hills faster than her pretty feet could carry her.

  While he wasn’t about to chance her running again, he wasn’t averse to taking advantage of the way he’d startled her, so he pushed his way into her dingy
room and closed the door behind him.

  “Get out,” she said, her panicked eyes darting around as if to seek something with which she could defend herself. “If Darius finds you here, he’ll throw you out.”

  “He could try.”

  Tor spared a thought for the barman. He might be a hefty sort, but he’d be no match for the likes of Tor. Since he hadn’t wanted to make a scene and risk alerting Connie to his having found her, he’d slipped covertly behind the bar and followed his nose, and Connie’s alluring scent, up to her room.

  “I want you to leave. Now. Or I’ll call for help.”

  Her voice shook, and when she swallowed again, Tor’s throat went dry. He didn’t like the idea that she was scared of him and found it hard to accept that she had run from him before he could talk to her, before he could explain.

  “I want us to talk.”

  Her chin went up again, and he had a memory of sinking his teeth into that delicious neck, her soft skin sweet and dewy against his tongue.

  “Go away,” she said, and took a step back. “Nothing you can say will change anything. I don’t want you anywhere near me.”

  Shit, but that hit him dead center in the chest. He’d long ago come to terms with what he was, but her sharp words, and the disgust in her eyes, were a painful reminder of the self contempt he’d once endured.

  He would never go back to that time. Never again would he allow a sense of powerlessness, of hopelessness and misery, rule over who—or what—he was. Never.

  “I seem to recall a time when you did not ever want me to leave,” he said, pushing his hands into his trouser pockets to stop from reaching out and pulling her close. “A time when you would beg me to stay.”

  He had canceled several business trips as a result of those sultry pleas, and never once had cause to regret doing so. Having Connie in his arms had seemed more important than adding to his empire.

  “Did you really think that what I saw would change nothing?” Her big eyes turned incredulous. “That I could simply dismiss something so … so unbelievable?”

  “You ran from me.”

  “Of course I ran. What did you expect?”

  “That you would have stuck around long enough to discuss the matter.”

  “Discuss the matter? Are you kidding me? I wasn’t about to stick around to discuss anything. You kept an essential part of yourself from me. Had I known you would do that, I would never have worked for you, would never have slept with you.”

  Indeed, she could drive the knife deep. He steeled himself against the pressure in his chest. “I don’t recall you had any reason to complain on either front. Your words one evening, as I recall, were that not only did you consider me an excellent employer but an accomplished lover.”

  She worried her bottom lip, those eyes still huge and fear-filled. “Things change.”

  Frustration warred inside him, but he had to tamp it down if he were to achieve what he’d set out to accomplish. “You were in shock. I understand that.”

  Her hand settled on her collarbone, and she took a long breath in. “Why are you here? Why don’t you just leave me alone? If you’re worried that I’ll tell someone about … your secret, you can rest assured that won’t happen. I doubt anyone would believe me anyway.”

  Tor had initially been concerned about the possibility of her reporting what she’d seen but had soon dismissed it for the reason she outlined. Nobody would believe her. And to be honest, he couldn’t imagine her betraying him.

  Quite why he believed that, he couldn’t say. It wasn’t something he intended to dwell on. Just as the reason he had dropped everything to track her down remained a mystery he had chosen not to contemplate too deeply.

  He took a step toward her. She took two back. Perverse of him, but while he hated to see her so anxious, right then he needed her off balance. It might just level up the playing field, seeing as he’d been that way since she’d opened the door to him. “You’ve had four weeks to come to terms with what you saw. Now you will give me the courtesy of allowing me to answer your questions, set your mind at ease.”

  “I don’t have to give you any kind of courtesy. I owe you nothing. And don’t imagine even for one moment that I’ve come to terms with what I saw. It doesn’t matter how many weeks, months, years I have to think about it.”

  She flicked a hand through her hair, reminding him of when he’d slipped his fingers through those silky blonde strands. The way he held her head between his hands, keeping her steady as he kissed her to within an inch of her life. And his.

  “Do you make it a habit?” she snapped, pulling him from the delicious memories. “Luring unsuspecting women into your bed while omitting to reveal fundamental parts of yourself?”

  The accusation, and the scornful way she said it, stung more than he ever would have anticipated it could. “I don’t recall having to lure you too hard. In fact, I remember you falling into my arms without much persuasion at all.”

  “Because I thought you were someone you’re not.”

  He followed the direction of her gaze as she glanced around the room, noticing the jacket and bag on the floor beside the door.

  “Going somewhere?”

  “What if I am? It’s no business of yours.”

  “What makes you think I won’t simply follow you again?”

  Since she didn’t look especially alarmed, Tor knew she’d already given that possibility some thought.

  She drew in a breath and let it out on a shaky sigh. “I don’t see what you’re hoping to gain.”

  He grinned. “You.”

  “If my memory serves, there are undoubtedly many women who would be more than willing to take my place.”

  He wondered if, like him, she was remembering the night she had delivered some documents he’d requested be brought direct to his London apartment. Acting as a courier, and believing him to be out, she had opened the door to the bedroom and found him in the process of servicing two women he’d met at a work function. He’d taken one look at her, the slender, yet surprisingly feminine figure, the long, fair hair, pretty blue eyes, which at that moment were wide and startled, and known he’d wanted her. Had wanted her so badly that every part of him vibrated with it.

  For a brief moment, he’d considered inviting her to join them, but thought better of it considering she’d looked about to faint clean away.

  Since that night he had never wanted another, had never taken another. “You will never evade me,” he warned. “Once in your general vicinity I can smell you, my sweet.”

  Deliberately, he glanced down to the apex of her legs, presently covered in tight-fitting jeans. The scent of her hit him sharply, making his mouth water and his blood heat. He wanted nothing more at that moment than to rip her jeans away and let his mouth feast on her naked sweetness.

  “You’re disgusting.”

  He took pleasure in moving closer and watching her eyes widen. “Disgusting? Despite what we have already shared, milaya, I can assure you that you really have no idea just how disgusting I can be.”

  She stiffened and held out her hands when he would have pressed against her. “I told you to get away from me.”

  “What is it you are so afraid of?”

  Her eyes widened even more and filled with exasperation. “What am I afraid of? Are you kidding me? Might it have something to do with the fact that you can change at will into … into a … a wolf?”

  She went decidedly pale, and Tor knew he had to give her leeway. It wasn’t every day a woman saw the man she’d been sleeping with shift back to human from his animal form. He would never forget the look on her face, the shock, the incredulity, the terror. That look, and the way she raced away as if the devil were on her tail, had haunted him. Part of him was glad she had discovered the truth of who he was. He wanted no secrets between them. But her reaction sliced him in two.

  He had never revealed himself to a woman before, but with Connie he had considered it. It had just never seemed the right time. H
ow did you tell a woman that an essential part of you was Siberian gray wolf? It wasn’t exactly something you could spring on them at dinner one evening, or in the post-coital pleasure of lovemaking.

  “I had hoped to let you know the truth of who I am and wanted to break it to you slowly to allow you to come to terms with it. As it was, you never allowed me the opportunity to explain.”

  “Bloody sure I wasn’t about to stick around for an explanation. You were the best part of six feet long, with sharp teeth that could eat me alive. Then, when you turned and saw me and you…”

  He’d shifted back to human, right in front of her. He’d been so taken aback that she’d been there at the edge of the woods, so desperate to make her see that he was nothing to be afraid of, that he’d shifted without considering the consequences.

  He’d wanted to explain, to comfort her. Ask her what instinct had made her follow him to the edge of the woods that night. But he’d never gotten the chance. She’d hightailed it out of his life before he could even get his pants back on.

  “I would never have hurt you.”

  “Except to give me heart failure.”

  He wanted to smile, realizing how much he’d missed her clever retorts, the way she always challenged him. He was used to people bowing and scraping. Employees went out of their way to please him and to make sure they kept in his good books. Likely being one of the most generous employers in the western hemisphere took care of that. He didn’t believe in employing less than the best, and he was prepared to pay for it.

  But hell, it was refreshing to have an employee who didn’t seem intimidated by him, who had given him an honest opinion whenever he’d asked for one, rather than whatever opinion she thought he wanted to hear.

  “So, my sweet. It seems we currently have an impasse.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He glanced back at her jacket and bag. “You appear intent on running again. And I am intent on following you. Like I said, an impasse.”