Dead Zone

by Amber Lynn Natusch

  There was a valet waiting when we pulled up in front of the massive high-rise building around ten o’clock. It was modern looking, with windows for walls. I personally preferred the appeal of older structures, but it was impressive nonetheless.

  Playing the role of the doting date, TS helped me out of the car and once again tucked my hand into his arm to walk me into the foyer. We were immediately escorted to a private elevator to the penthouse level, and when we reached our destination, the shiny brass doors opened to reveal a gorgeous home filled with supernaturals. The energy in the place was off the charts, and it took me a moment to adapt to it. Feeling my hesitation, TS leaned his lips down to my ear in a seemingly romantic gesture and spoke.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes,” I said softly, “I just needed a sec to acclimate to all of the power in the room. I’m fine now.”

  “Then shall we?” He slipped my hand from his arm and placed his on the small of my back to guide me through the room.

  “Where is he?” I kept my voice as low as I could. In a room full of wolves and other assorted beings with superhuman hearing, I needed to be as discreet as possible. Thankfully, I knew TS would hear me.

  “Over there. By the table in the far corner, next to Charlotte.”

  My eyes drifted in that direction and soon landed on the alpha of the Northside pack, standing next to his number one mate. He looked older than I remembered, but in a distinguished way. In human years, he appeared to be around fifty, but he was still handsome, with an unmistakable charm. Even from across the room, I could feel his pull. His allure.

  As if he could feel mine, his eyes fell upon me, making direct contact. I flashed him a shy smile in return, then looked away.

  “I need a drink,” I said, looking around for a server with a tray of champagne.

  “Alejandro is making his way over to you,” TS said, leading me to one of the massive windows that seemed to have no beginning or end. “If he asks, I’ve gone to speak to an old friend. Do whatever you must to occupy his attention for at least the next fifteen minutes. I’ll need at least that long to pull this off. Can you do that?”

  I looked up to find uncertainty in TS’ eyes. Whether he doubted my abilities or didn’t want to leave me alone with the wolf, I didn’t know. Either way, it didn’t matter. I had to do it regardless.

  I reached into my clutch and pulled out the necklace, dropping it into TS’ hand. His eyes closed the second it made contact with his skin, and he turned toward a large hallway leading deeper into the penthouse.

  “You can feel it, can’t you?”

  He nodded once. Then he was gone.

  To occupy myself, I stared out at the city I’d grown to love, waiting for Alejandro to join me. Chicago looked so different from this vantage point; so small, but so alive. She distracted me just long enough for the alpha to arrive.

  “Good evening, Sapphire,” he said, drawing my focus to him. “I do not believe I have properly introduced myself. I am Alejandro Vega, the host of this party.”

  “I kinda figured that out,” I replied with a smile.

  “Indeed. And I must say, I almost didn’t recognize you when you entered. You look so different dressed this way.” He took a moment to let his eyes roam the length of me before continuing. “Where is Jenkins? I expected him to be escorting you.”

  “He couldn’t make it, but he suggested I come tonight so I could speak with you.”

  “About?” he asked, curiosity in his eyes.

  “I’m new in town, and I’m looking for protection—a new family.”

  “Interesting that the lone wolf would send you my way and not attempt to keep you for himself.”

  I leaned in closer to him in a conspiratorial fashion. “Just between you and me, I don’t think he’s very keen on monogamy.” At that, he laughed. “And in truth, we didn’t really hit it off when we first met. I think that puts a bit of a strain on our relationship, but I enjoy him all the same. When he suggested I come meet you, I knew he had my best interests at heart.”

  “He is a fool,” Alejandro said, taking my hand and raising it to his lips. “To not see your worth is practically a crime.”

  “That’s what I said.” I winked at him as I smiled wryly. “But men aren’t always quick to realize what they have until it’s gone.”

  The alpha’s eyes narrowed. “Not all men.”

  Silence bloomed between us, and I gently pulled my hand away, letting blood rush to my cheeks. If he thought he had the upper hand in our relationship, I’d play along. Whatever I needed to do to buy TS time.

  “Tell me something, Sapphire, have you recently left your pack? I’m only asking because I do not wish to go to war over someone else’s property. It’s bad business.”

  I felt my hackles rise at the use of the word ‘property’ but stifled it before I let my disdain bleed into my expression.

  “No worries there. I am free to do as I please. I guess I’m a bit of a lone wolf too.”

  “A female lone wolf? This is unheard of,” he said, doing little to hide the shock he felt at my words.

  “If you find me a drink, I’ll tell you all about it,” I replied, turning up all the sexual energy I could. When his pupils dilated until his irises were nearly swallowed whole, I knew it had worked.

  “You drive a hard bargain, but I agree to your terms. Stay here, Sapphire. I will be right back.”

  He strolled away with a confident swagger, which made me think my efforts were working. I turned to take in the rest of the party while keeping an eye on Alejandro and found a familiar female werewolf up in my face.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Charlotte asked. I sighed heavily, hoping I wasn’t about to get into a catfight with the alpha’s number one girl, but I had no clue how to avoid it. The look of pure rage on her face promised one.

  “Mingling…”

  “You don’t want to mingle with that one,” she said, her voice low as she leaned closer to me.

  “Because he’s yours?” I asked.

  She scoffed at my reply.

  “He’s nobody’s.” I fought hard to keep the confusion off my face. Jenkins had been very clear about who Charlotte was and, more importantly, who she was to the alpha. “You’d be wise to remember that.”

  Before I could say another word, she smiled brightly at me and excused herself. A second later, Alejandro was at my side. It felt like he’d been gone for all of fifteen seconds; as if five steps and a snap of his fingers was all it had taken to acquire two flutes of champagne for us. He handed me the drink, then raised his glass.

  “A toast,” he said, sounding formal, “to new friends who are full of surprises.”

  “To new friends,” I echoed, raising my glass to clink with his. Then I tossed back half the liquid it held.

  “Now, explain to me how a lovely young wolf like yourself has been able to survive on her own. Our kind is not especially…delicate with our females.”

  “I’m not as fragile as I look. And I’m highly resourceful.”

  “You must be,” he said, quirking a brow.

  “I guess you could say that I’m good at staying off the radar.”

  “Not in a dress like that, you’re not.” He put his drink down on a nearby table and wrapped his arm around the small of my back. “That dress says look at me. Notice me.”

  “Which is exactly what I wanted. I did want you to notice me tonight.”

  “And yet you arrived with another.”

  I shrugged. “Like you said, our kind isn’t especially delicate with its females. Sometimes a girl needs to have someone around that makes her feel safe.”

  “Is that what you want?” he asked, his voice lower and huskier than before. “To feel safe?”

  “I want to belong.”

  “You could have that here. With me. With my pack.”

  Before I could reply, music rang out through the penthouse. Salsa music. Alejandro looked down at me with lust in his eyes as he took my
hands in his. “We can discuss our arrangement in a moment. First, we dance.”

  Without awaiting my reply, he whisked me off to a section of the vast space that had been cleared for dancing. When we reached the empty area, he walked me around the circumference of the dance floor, as if to show me off. And he was showing off almost all of me in that damn dress.

  “Do you salsa, Sapphire?”

  “I hate to admit this, but yes, I do. I learned how so I could impress you tonight.”

  He gave me a nod of approval.

  “Beautiful and forthcoming. What a deadly combination that could be.”

  “Deadly?”

  “To a man’s heart, yes.”

  I leaned into him, and he wrapped his arm around me, preparing to lead me around the dance floor.

  “But you are not a man,” I countered.

  He pulled my body flush against his. “No. I most certainly am not.”

  Without warning, he began swinging and twirling me around the room. I did all I could to keep my hips and feet moving in the right directions, trying to look sexy in the process. It seemed to be working, judging by the look in his eyes and the energy slamming into me. Alejandro wanted a piece of me; there was no denying that. Whether or not I was going to have to let him have one before TS finished was far more uncertain.

  “I have many rules for my pack,” he said, pulling me in close again, “but one of them is of the utmost importance. It keeps infighting to a minimum.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “All females must be claimed. No exceptions…not even for the most resilient of the breed.”

  Cold sweat ran down my back. ‘Claimed’ did not sound promising.

  “Like mated?”

  “To be mated is to be with one true love for life. To be claimed is more of a working arrangement. That is how we keep order among ourselves.”

  “And who would decide who would get to claim me?”

  His eyes darkened slightly. “I would.”

  “What if I didn’t agree with your choice?”

  “I think you would.” A smile hinted at his true intentions.

  “Who, then?” I asked, leaning in even as my instincts screamed at me to run. “Who would you choose to claim me?”

  “I would do it myself. A wolf like you needs the strongest of the strong to claim her.”

  “And for that I would gain asylum in your pack?”

  “Yes.”

  I tried to figure out my next move while he whisked me around the dance floor. As the room revolved through my vision, I tried desperately to find TS to see if he was finished. To see if I could leave before I had to delve any deeper into the charade I’d begun. But I didn’t see him.

  When the music ended, so did my reprieve. Alejandro hovered above me, waiting for an answer to his offer. I was afraid that if I didn’t give him one, he would leave me, or worse yet, throw me out. I couldn’t risk him finding TS. I had to do something—and quickly.

  “Could I be claimed by someone outside the pack—someone other than a wolf—to keep the peace within?”

  He cocked his head at me, no shred of gentleness left in his gaze.

  “And why would you want someone other than a wolf to claim you? Someone other than me? No one can offer you what I can.”

  “Are you certain of that?” TS replied from behind me.

  Alejandro looked over me to where he stood. I could feel TS’ energy wrapping itself around me: fear and anger and a hint of something I couldn’t place. If TS was afraid, then nothing else mattered.

  “Ah yes. Your escort. You’re no longer needed here. She will be staying with me, I’m afraid.”

  “That is for her to decide. Not you,” TS replied. I held my breath, waiting for a war to break out between the two of them—and possibly everyone else in attendance. The odds were not in our favor. “You have no claim on her. She has not joined your pack.”

  “Not yet…”

  “Will you excuse us for a moment?” I said, trying to turn up my charm factor as high as it would go. “I need to speak to my date.”

  Alejandro looked annoyed, but nodded in agreement. I did my best to look irritated with TS as I stormed off toward a hallway where I hoped to find a bathroom or somewhere private we could talk. I needed to see if he’d gotten what we came for.

  Once we were away from the party, TS shoved me into a bathroom and slammed the door, locking it behind us. I stood on the far side of the room, trying to make sense of why he seemed so angry, while TS gripped the vanity counter like he was about to tear it off and throw it through the wall. He leaned heavily against the slab of Carrera marble, his head hung low as he fought to control his breathing. I started to ask him what was going on, but Nyx silenced me in a second. She seemed to understand what I, with all my empath abilities, could not. TS was hanging on by a thread.

  And I had no clue why.

  “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” he asked. It was clear from his tone that the question was rhetorical. I answered him anyway.

  “I seemed to have offended our host. I don’t think he’ll be very happy when I tell him I won’t be taking him up on his offer to claim me either—”

  “Phira!” TS shouted, cutting off my sarcastic reply. “This is not a joke.” Murderous eyes turned to meet mine. The eyes that used to hold so many warm emotions when they looked upon me were now filled with little more than rage. “He wants to claim you.”

  “I know that! I was trying to buy you time, and the conversation took a weird turn. What did you want me to do? I wasn’t trying to make this complicated—it just sort of turned out that way.”

  “And now we must find a way out of it.”

  “Look, I’m sorry. I had no idea—”

  “Of course you had no idea,” he snapped, dropping his head to stare at the white and grey swirls on the counter again. Apparently that was more appealing than looking at me—the one who had done something unforgivable, by the sound of it. “He has publicly declared that he wants to claim you. And now that he thinks you’re interested, we have only two options.”

  “Okay. Options are good. What are they?”

  He inhaled, holding his breath for longer than he needed to, then exhaled hard. “Either I claim you now, or he does.”

  “So do it! Because I’m sure as hell not being ‘claimed’ by that psycho.”

  He hesitated.

  “Do you know what you’re asking of me?” he asked.

  “No, not exactly. But I’m sure it would be better coming from you than him.”

  TS looked into the ornate mirror in front of him. He stared at his reflection in silence, as though it might offer another solution to our problem. Unfortunately for us, it didn’t.

  “It’s for her own good,” he told himself, once again gripping the cold marble like he wanted to crush it. Like that would somehow ease his anger. “It’ll keep her safe.” He repeated this under his breath until I began to fear that he was coming unhinged. I took a step toward him, concerned by what appeared to be his break with reality, but the moment I advanced, his wild eyes shot to mine. Staring at each other across the small divide, I felt my heart start to pound in my chest.

  “What’s for my own good, TS?” I whispered, my anxiety growing by the second. “What’ll keep me safe?”

  He stood up straight, fighting for control of his body—and maybe his mind. I tried to read his emotions, but it was like trying to catch rain in a downpour. I was too overwhelmed to wrap my hand—or my head—around anything.

  “This,” he said, his voice low and raspy and full of something I knew all too well.

  He closed the distance between us in a flash, picking me up to pin me against the wall. We collided with uncomfortable force, but I didn’t have time to care. His mouth closed over mine, and he kissed me with a sense of urgency that was almost disconcerting. Almost. The feel of his body against mine seemed to wipe the worry from my mind.

  “He cannot have you…” he said, lips
still entangled with mine.

  The high slit up the side of my dress provided him with the access he needed, as did my lack of underwear. His hand gripped my bare ass, pulling me to him as he maneuvered out of his pants. Moments later, I felt him push inside me.

  I moaned at his entry, unable to contain the sound. It was rough and delicious, and it made me realize that almost all of my previous sexual encounters had been lacking something—desire. They had been a means to an end. But not this time. Not with him.

  His pace was furious, the force of it brutal. I held on to him for dear life as he took something that he had clearly wanted for a long time. “It’s for her own good,” he’d said, but I could tell he’d been trying to convince himself of that. In truth, it was far more for his than mine.

  And I couldn’t have cared less.

  With one last forceful push, I felt the release he needed escape him. Breathing hard, he dropped his head away from mine, separating our mouths for the first time since they’d connected. I felt empty the instant they left.

  But I would feel even emptier moments later.

  He pulled out of me and put me down, saying nothing. Walking away from me, he pulled up his pants and tucked in his shirt. Then, without so much as a look back at me, he opened the door to leave.

  “It’s time to go,” he said over his shoulder. “We’re finished here.”

  He closed the bathroom door to punctuate his verbal bitchslap.

  For all the drunken one-night stands I’d had in my life, I’d never once felt used. Standing there in that bathroom, surrounded by expensive fixtures and marble, I felt cheaper than I ever had. What I’d initially thought was going on between us couldn’t have been further from reality. He hadn’t been releasing pent-up sexual tension; he’d released years of frustration and irritation at my stupidity instead. Maybe he’d done what he’d done to keep me safe from Alejandro, but he’d made a point to do it in a way that would hurt me.

  The tears that rolled slowly down my cheeks illustrated just how successful his attempt to do that had been.

  He did what was necessary. You may not like his methods, but he pulled us out of the hole you dug. You cannot hate him for that. The alternative would have been far more unpleasant, I can assure you.