by Nova Carlyle
“Don’t you dare!”
Relief washed over him when Clementine’s voice tried its best to eviscerate him from her side of the door.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Good. Now open the door.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m pretty sure I hired you. I boss you around. Not the other way around. Go patrol.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know! Around!”
Charlie pulled a monogrammed handkerchief out and blotted at his forehead. “I’m sorry. Ever since the little incident with her fiancé—”
“Ex! Ex-fiancé!” She shouted through the door. “And it was as little as my ass used to be which is to say, not little at all!”
“Clemmy—”
“The bastard cheated on me!”
“Darling, you really shouldn’t call Grant such things.”
There was a loud thud and muted scraping. “Well, he shouldn’t have stuck his dick in that grossly overpaid excuse of a secretary—Gah! His secretary! I’ve become a fucking statistic because he boinked his secretary. I only have eyes for you, darling. I love you and only you. It’s a crock of shit. He’s a crock of shit. Love is a giant crock of stinking shit and I am so done.” The tirade ended on a shriek and more crashing rattled the house.
“Oh, I take it all back. This is a woman I can stand behind.” Rae’s amusement only irritated Bryce. Clementine was clearly under a great deal of mental duress if she was using such coarse language. Everyone knew she was a gentle, sweet woman who hated vulgarities.
And he hated this door between them. “Clementine, I will break this door down if I have to in order to perform my duties.”
“Oh, no you won’t!”
“Oh, yes I will.”
A snicker erupted at his side and he glared at Rae. She pretended to study her bit off finger nails and he scrubbed at his jaw.
Changing his tactics, he softened his voice and said, “Listen. I’m here to protect you. I can’t do that with a door between us.”
“I can protect myself!”
“And yet, you hired me.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
He couldn’t very well tell her the truth—that he was the one person on the entire planet she could put her absolute trust in. So he cleared his throat and lied. “If you die, I don’t get paid. I go hungry when I don’t get paid. And I don’t like being hungry.”
Quiet.
“You smell…different.”
“I’m a rogue wolf.” No sense beating around the bush. The sooner she realized that he didn’t have a place in society, the better. And the more he pounded that truth back into his wolf’s head, the better.
“Oh.”
More quiet.
The lock snicked.
Bryce sighed in relief then immediately sucked in a sharp lance of air that pierced through to his gut.
Those eyes were all he’d thought about for so long, and now here they were again. Angry, wrapped in purple eyeliner, but still the most haunting gold color he’d ever seen.
“Take off your glasses.”
“No.”
Her nose twitched, drawing his attention down to her obvious overbite. His arousal increased and Bryce flushed. Then Clementine blushed. And it was awkward.
Teddy fanned himself.
The motion distracted her and her mouth parted on a soft coo. “Oh, that color is so pretty on you.”
Teddy held the feathered collar up to his chin, eyes squinted with pleasure. “I feel so pretty.”
“Awe, I’m so glad my old clothes are going to have a good home.”
“Clem, you can’t get rid of all your clothes!” Charlie protested.
“Too late. If it’s not black, raging red, or pissed off purple, it’s not going on my body!” She threw the door open and struck an alluring pose, not unlike what Teddy had done downstairs.
And Bryce had to admit, the black fishnets were extremely hot. But the very red and very short athletic shorts thrown over them distracted from the sexy. And then there was the purple sequined top that Bryce could only explain as a once-evening-gown hacked into a ragged tank. The neckline plunged boldly and damn did he like that.
She waved her hand in the air. “Granted this isn’t the most conventional outfit, but it gets the message across. ‘Don’t. Fuck. With. Me’.” She framed her hands into a box, counting each imaginary word over her body.
Goosebumps shattered the surface of Bryce’s skin. This wasn’t the Clementine he’d known and loved from afar for years. This wasn’t the shy, coquettish female he spent his nights fantasizing about. This woman lifted her upper lip in reaction to his dumbfounded staring, her little snarl sending ripples of arousal over his body.
This woman made his wolf grin like a stupid mother fucker and terrified Bryce because she didn’t need protecting from him. He needed protected from her.
“Honey,” Teddy drawled. “You look like an institution escapee. I promise, girl, no one is going to come within a mile of you.”
“Good.” She whipped a sword out from behind the door, her smile stretching into devil-horned points. Devil-horned points with really adorable dimples. “Cause if they do, I’ll stab them.”
“Whoa, wow.” Rae jumped back. “Honey. Wow. That’s a sword.”
Clementine lowered the tip. “I fence. I like swords.”
“Right, well. Maybe, since we’re here, you should let us just have that?”
Clementine yanked backwards. “My sword. Get your own, bitch!”
Charlie buried his face in his hands while Teddy laughed.
Bryce rubbed the warm spot growing in his chest, unable to take his eyes off her. He hadn’t been prepared for this—for the most beautiful woman in the world holding him at sword point.
“Bryce,” Rae hissed from a safe distance. “Do something.”
He cleared his throat. “Okay, listen. Rae and I are professionals—”
The tip of her sword lifted. He lifted his hands.
“We are trained to protect you. The sword isn’t really necessary.”
“Or safe,” Rae muttered.
“You’ll have to pry it from my cold dead hands.” She drew her elbows up, pointing it straight at his chest.
Bryce’s wolf shivered in excitement. This woman threatened to kill him and he was utterly charmed to his toes. “Teddy’s already assured me he’s the dramatic one in this house. Give me the sword. You’ll never have to worry about defending yourself so long as I’m near.”
“Cold. Dead. Hands.”
“She always was a stubborn child,” Charlie admitted.
“McCabe, I’m going to let you handle this. Charlie, Teddy, would you be kind enough to show me around. We need to discuss security measures.”
“But no one is actually trying to kill her!”
“I and my once not so little ass say he is.”
“Clementine.” Teddy folded his hands together. “I know I’m your favorite father, so I know you’re going to listen to me when I say this. You’re pulling a Britney Spears circa ’07.”
“Well, good for me because just look at her now! Strong. Fierce. Powerful.”
He threw his hands up. “I’ve done all I can do here. Charlie, I need a drink.”
“Good luck.” Rae clapped Bryce’s shoulder as she followed the men.
“And Clem, you’re a squirrel, not a raccoon! Lay off the eyeliner.” Theodore tossed back one more comment, his voice fading into the woodwork.
Bryce looked at Clementine. She looked at him.
They stood with the doorway and her sword between them.
“Take your glasses off.”
“No.”
“Is Bryce your real name? I was expecting someone named Ace or Remington. Something bad ass.”
“Sweetheart, I don’t need a fancy name to rip someone’s throat out.” He meant to shock her, to remind them both that he wasn’t anything she needed.
She only stuck her bottom lip out in thought. �
��Yeah, okay, I guess that’s true. Take your glasses off.”
“No.”
“My dads don’t believe he’s trying to kill me.”
“Why don’t you tell me why you think someone is?”
“Not someone. Him. My ex-fiancé. The exhole.” She snorted. “That’s good. Exhole.” Her nose scrunched and when she tilted her head, some of the erratic curls tipped to the side. She looked entirely too adorable with those freckles and those mind blowing eyes and the sharp gleam of her sword.
Trying to stay focused on her words and not the press of her breasts behind the sawed off prom dress, he cleared his throat. “Your exhole is trying to kill you?”
She started laughing. “It’s even funnier when you say it! Say it again.”
“Exhole.”
Clementine giggled. “Take your glasses off.”
“No.”
“So I have this favorite place in the forest—my squirrel and I. You know, I’ve got like this path I like to take. It’s hard, lots of long-distance jumping—squirrel triathlon, if you will. The last branch? The one that takes all my weight at the end of the mad dash? Someone sawed into it just enough that when I landed, it snapped. It’s a sixty foot drop with nothing between that branch and the pine needles on the ground.
Tension crept up the back of his neck. The image of terror etched on her face flashed across his mind. His wolf snarled deeply. “You look pretty good for someone who took a sixty foot body slam to the ground.”
“Branches breaking come with the territory. I’m a squirrel. That shit happens. It’s like cat shifters who wanna pretend like they don’t get hairballs. Puh-lease.”
“Focus.”
“Right. So I used the branch to launch off mid fall and caught enough of the tree with two nails that I didn’t go wham, bam, now I’m a pancake, ma’am.”
“And you think it was your exhole because…?”
Clementine’s brows twisted together and her foot nervously pushed into the carpet. “I can trust you?”
“Yes.”
“Take off your glasses.”
“Clementine.”
“Just, please. Eyes are the windows to the soul and I’m a firm believer in intuition and right now my gut says you’re…dangerous? But safe? And I don’t know, I need to see your eyes.”
He sighed. “We’ll make a deal. I remove the glasses, you put away the sword.”
“That’s hardly fair. You remove the glasses, I won’t point it at you.”
“I remove the glasses, you lay it aside but within hand’s reach.”
“Still highly tipped in favor for you, but okay.” She leaned it up against the open door then stared at him expectantly.
Bryce sucked in a deep breath. It had been sixteen years, she wouldn’t recognize him. All she’d see was what everyone else did. A rogue wolf from the wrong side of the tracks. And then she’d look away like everyone else did.
He pulled them off, slipping them into the collar of his shirt. “There. I want you to show me the branch—”
“Oh, my god.”
He ignored the breathless whisper. “The branch that was cut—”
“It’s you.”
Heat flared in his chest. He snapped his glasses back on.
“You’re the boy.”
“No, I’m no one.”
“You’re the boy that saved me. I looked for you! I looked everywhere! And now you’re here?” She rushed at him, arms wide and Bryce threw himself back.
Shaken and a little afraid of what the thought of her searching for him did to his heart and his poor lonely wolf, he forced a mask over it all. “Clementine—”
Whatever he was about to say disappeared when the lights flashed out and an enormous eruption shook through the house, the bright orange flame throwing alien light into her big eyes. Bryce barely had time to throw himself over her when the ugly, staggering sound of gunfire tore through the air.
She shook him off and grabbed her sword. “Oh, he did not just blow up my God damned mansion!”
Two
Clementine shifted the glorious weight of her saber, nestling her hand deeper into the silver curl of the guard. A calming sense of power coated her body, weighing down the angry buzz of fear and bitterness.
She was armed. She was fearless. And she was going to kick some ass.
She was totally putting that on a shirt.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
A hand clamped over her wrist like a thick vice, but it was the deep, bone-melting voice that kept her from slugging him off. This was The Boy. The Boy was special. He was important. She wasn’t going to hurt him. She was going to keep him. But first she had to save her fathers. “I’m going to find Grant. And then I’m going to play a game of pin the sword on the jackass.”
“You’re not going down there.”
“But…but I really wanna poke him with this!”
In one yank, he shoved her behind him with no care for the weapon in her hand. She squawked, fumbling to keep her balance. He yanked again, this time tugging her up against his back so she didn’t end up on the floor. And boy, wow, was he tall. And lean, almost skinny. And his limbs were so long. He was totally built like a tree.
Clementine and her squirrel liked trees.
But she was on a strict no-orders diet now. No one but Clementine Frances Winters made decision for her anymore. She’d played their game their way for years but no-fucking-more. No more dulling herself down. No more hiding the fire and brimstone because it frightened people away. Let them be afraid of her. She was dressed for blood and ready for a fight.
She slapped the blunt edge of it against his arm. “Watch me!”
He shushed her, drawing a gun from his hip, eyes focused on the flicker of flames visible through the small hallway separating her wing of the house from the rest.
She slapped him again, the blade flashing. “My dads are down there!”
“And Rae’s with them.”
“We need to find them.”
“We need to get you out of here.”
“I’m the boss, not you.”
Clementine sputtered when he backed up, herding her into her bedroom, keeping his body between her and the sounds of chaos below. He shut the door, locking it before tugging the ornate chest of drawers next to it up against the dark wood.
Without so much as a glance at her, he began backing her up again.
“I am not running away from this!”
“You hired me to protect you. Going down there is not protecting you.”
“Hello, did you not see my big sword?” She wiggled it. “I can totally protect myse—Oomph!” Her ass hit the floor and Clementine kicked at the ruined remains of the bedpost.
Bryce surveyed the room, seeming to suddenly realize the disaster around them. “Did you destroy your bed?”
She glared up. “At least I didn’t burn it!”
“Clementine?” Amidst the rumble of violence below them, a silky voice rose into the air. “Darling, we need to talk about your behavior recently.”
All that polish and elegance used to dazzle her, but now it just pissed her off. He was a silk-tongued monster out to destroy her family. Fury bloomed in her chest and her cheeks burned. She was never backing down to Grant Halliday ever again. Gripping her sword tighter, she started to climb to her feet.
“Don’t answer him.” Bryce hissed, hauling her up. “We’re going out the window. You need to shift.”
She planted her feet. “Oh, I’m not running away. He’s paying for his sins and I don’t care what you—”
He covered her mouth.
And Clementine licked him. And a small part of her brain registered that she didn’t really care if he took his hand away or not, she just wanted to taste him.
Because she swore off love and was now moving on to cannibalism apparently. Of a sort. Technically he was a wolf and she was a squirrel. That was a fucked-up food chain.
Focus, Clementine. She tried to shake her h
ead clear, but Bryce wouldn’t let go.
His stare burned her even from behind his shades and she squirmed, itching to take them off him again. He leaned close, his hand not moving, his tall form stooping down to level with her.
“Rae is a professional. She will get both your fathers out and then make contact with me when it’s safe for everyone. My job now is to get you out of here. Intact.”
Bryce slowly took his hand away and Clementine both appreciated and resented his assumption that she’d just do whatever he said. She had no one to blame but herself. Of course he believed she would do whatever he told her to. Why wouldn’t he when the entire world at large thought it too? She was going to have to set him and everyone else straight on the matter once she got this shit-storm that was her exhole handled. But for the moment, Clementine was grateful for his candid trust in her. Without it, she wouldn’t be able to dart around him and body slam into the dresser in an attempt to move it away from the door.
She ‘oomphed’ again when it refused to budge without a fight. And she registered Bryce’s deep sigh before two arms swept under her abdomen and he lifted her off her feet, carrying her back towards the window.
“Oh, come on!” She kicked uselessly at the air. “Lemme go!”
“You’re emotionally distraught and I’m not going to let you put yourself in danger.”
“False. I’m only ever emotionally distraught when I’m pms-ing and simultaneously watching kitten and puppy videos.” Clementine arched her foot out, trying to make contact with the wall and keep him from dragging her away from the door. “And, seriously. Sword. I have a sword. And I’m the boss. So you’re going to let me go, I’m going to go dispatch of the exhole, and then you’re going to explain to me how you alluded me for years only to show up on my doorstep today.”
“I never alluded you—”
“Aha!” She brandished her sword triumphantly in the air. “You are you! I knew it!”
Bryce put her back on her feet and immediately pivoted to block her attempt to dodge around him.
“At this moment, I am no one but your bodyguard. Clementine, you need to shift right now.”
“You need to shift. Shift out of my way. I’m going to fight him and you can’t stop me.”
“You can’t fight him—no, wait, let me clarify because obviously sword.”
