He nodded and slapped another lock on the wolf’s cage. “Is that what you want?”
She looked over at the papers on the desk. “No.”
“You’re a wild creature. You just want to know that you can be free. I can understand that. I’m much the same way.”
“I don’t know what you are.” She looked at him, squinting, almost as if she could see past his human veneer.
But he knew that wasn’t true. If it were, she’d have already run screaming.
“You will. In time.”
“That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?”
In more ways than one. “Yes.”
“Touch me now, Blake. Touch me, kiss me, while that wildness is gone from your eyes. While that amber is just brown.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know if it’s the same. Will you show me?”
He couldn’t deny her even if he’d wanted to. Blake pulled her against him more gently, holding her gaze the whole time. His wolf had hidden himself away, knowing Randi needed to see him as a man. A man who was like any other.
Blake leaned down, the sweetness of the shared breath between them calling to the gentle side of his nature—the secret side. All of the things he saved for his family, his pack. Devotion, loyalty, and tenderness.
He held them in that moment because he feared what she’d do after it. She’d push him away, she’d flee the thing growing between them. He couldn’t blame her, but he couldn’t stop himself, either, from holding on to the moment, stretching it out so that he could wring every sensation out of the memory.
Her arms twined around his neck, and her full breasts pressed against him so enticingly. But what moved him the most was the way she leaned into him. The way her long lashes fluttered closed, and she tilted her face up for his kiss.
Even if she didn’t know it, her body began to trust him, to trust the feelings that they wrought in each other. It was okay if her mind hadn’t caught up yet. Maybe it was a start.
She tasted like everything good and right, everything his.
He yearned to deepen the kiss, to give more, to take more. Always more. But this wasn’t about that, he understood. It was about the tenderness. She wanted to know more than the fierce wildness that raged when they touched. She wanted more than the animal.
Only, it was the strength and power of that animal that allowed him to be what she wanted—what she needed.
Blake pulled back. She kept her eyes closed for a long moment afterward while her chest rose and fell in a staccato rhythm. He could see she fought for control. When she opened her eyes, they were luminous and deep. Tidewater pools of all the things he knew she didn’t want him to see, but he couldn’t look away.
She was too beautiful.
Her fingertips fluttered against her lips. “You’re the devil,” she whispered.
He might’ve teased and taunted her, sparred with her, but it wasn’t the time for such things. He could give her just a little bit, now, of the truth. “I’ve felt that way since you walked into my office.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Her voice wasn’t demanding or harsh, but a plea.
“I may not always show my hand, but I never lie.” He wished she’d believe him. Every time she accused him of lying, of wanting to hurt her, it was a blade to all he felt made him a worthy Alpha.
“I wish I could believe you. You don’t know how badly I want to.” She shook her head. “Why did I tell you that? Why did I ever think I could beat you? I’ve only been here a day, and you’ve already broken through all my defenses.”
Randi sounded so forlorn, it broke his heart. Her distress caused him physical pain. “I will never hurt you, Randi. You’ll see. I swear, you’ll see.”
The promise reverberated through him and echoed in his bones.
She shivered, almost as if she could feel it in her own.
Maybe she could.
Chapter Eight
Randi spent the next two days trying to figure out just what the hell happened in the laboratory.
His raw sex appeal—she didn’t like it. Correction: she didn’t like experiencing it with him, but she understood it. Chemistry made sense. She didn’t have to like or care about a person to get hot. But tenderness, that was something else.
The damnable part was it felt so real. She could’ve sworn his reaction was genuine. The way he touched her face, the way he’d looked at her, the way he’d given her exactly what she needed from him even though he’d wanted more. Blake had made promises and it looked to Randi like he intended to keep them.
Of course, that’s what he wanted her to think. He wanted her to let her guard down, to invite him in so that all her soft places were exposed. Once she did, he’d drive a dagger through each one of them until she had nothing left.
Until she was nothing.
He was a master player. Men like Blake Woolven didn’t get to be where they were without knowing how to fight dirty.
Randi kept thinking about what Drew said—how they thought de la Luna killed her father. He’d offered it at just the right time, when she was open to hearing it, when she wanted it to be someone besides Blake. Almost as if it were scripted.
What woman wouldn’t be easy prey for a man like Blake Woolven? Even Parker admitted that some women called him Big Bad. Like he was some kind of wolf. The idea thrilled her, even though it shouldn’t. It made him more dangerous, which was much too attractive for his own—no, scratch that. For her own good. Because if he was a wolf, he’d try to make her the rabbit—the prey.
Randi was determined to be more than a rabbit, more than a mouse.
She had to get into their systems.
Maybe she could find something in the files that she couldn’t get from Blake himself. Some clue about her father and this work.
Randi knew he’d left her a clue somewhere, some failsafe in case something happened to him. He wouldn’t have been working on tech with such high stakes without it. She just had to figure out where he’d hidden it.
There was a reason he’d laid out his office like the one at home. Not just so she’d find the book and the—no.
The turn her brain had taken was down the path of the ridiculous.
Her father had hidden the key to a silver nitrate plasma gun in The Book of Were-Wolves. She’d heard wolves the last few nights.
Under the moonlight with Blake, his eyes had changed then he’d chased her. Chased her like a—she shook her head. It wasn’t possible. Werewolves weren’t real.
“Don’t run from me. I like chasing you too much.” He’d said that like it was some kind of warning. Like he couldn’t help but give chase if she ran.
She’d heard howls that night, too.
Oh, dear Christ.
Randi swallowed hard. It had to be another tactic. He’d drive her crazy so she’d spout inanities and no one would take her seriously.
There was no such thing as werewolves. Blake Woolven might be a predator, but he was human. Anything else was the fabrication of some child’s imagination who was afraid of the dark.
She exhaled heavily. There were facts, incontrovertible truths.
Her father had been working on a super-secret project for the Department of Defense—a plasma gun which used silver nitrate for ammo.
Silver nitrate was also used as the delivery mechanism for the pepper spray she’d been given.
Just the touch of the arrow from the crossbow caused Blake’s flesh to smoke, as if he’d been burned.
His eyes changed. She hadn’t imagined it. They’d glowed like an animal’s.
What did it all mean?
Answer A, he was a werewolf. They were all werewolves. It was a big conspiracy and they would eat her like a shepherd pie.
She rolled her eyes at the direction of her thoughts.
Answer B, they were fucking with her. Trying to drive her insane, so she’d be too afraid to take them down.
Randi had always been taught that the simplest answer was usually the correct one.
Answer B seemed like the most logical choice.
If she was wrong, and it was Answer A in some fucked up version of the universe, she still had the silver nitrate gun. She could use it.
Of course, she’d never sleep again, but whatever.
Part of her actually wanted him to be a werewolf. If that part was true, so was the rest of the fantasy. That he could have feelings for her. That he wouldn’t hurt her. That there was more between them than heat.
That he didn’t kill her father.
She had to get out of the house. She needed to be outside her quarters, the lab—outside, where she could breathe. Where things made sense. The sky was up, the earth was down and she knew exactly who she was, what she wanted, and what it would take to get it.
Randi used her ID to swipe out of the lab and made her way outside.
The fresh air was a balm that centered her, soothed her and put things into perspective. The farther she ventured from the house, the saner she felt. The more the world around her seemed cohesive and whole again.
The north side of the property was thick with pine trees, the scent of them fresh and wholesome.
She didn’t pay any heed to the falling dusk or the place where the electric lights stopped and darkness reigned. She didn’t think about anything other than how good her freedom felt until Randi realized she’d wandered off the path.
So very far off the path.
She wondered if this was how Little Red Riding Hood felt when she realized she’d wandered too far in the dark.
The shadows themselves seemed weighted, heavy with menace. The arch of the trees that moments before seemed warm and welcoming was now isolating, while the utter silence of the night creatures caused terror to well in her throat.
Unnatural.
There should’ve been some movement in the great forest—stirrings of nocturnal things, the sound of crickets or frogs—but there was nothing. Not even a breeze rustled through the branches overhead.
Randi wondered if this was how the rabbit felt—or the lamb. Dear god, she really was the lamb. Blake warned her; he’d told her.
I never lie.
No, he hadn’t lied. He’d told her straight to her face she was prey and now, here she was, out in the dark, alone. But he’d also told her he’d protect her.
For some reason, she believed him.
Now, more than ever. If he were with her, she wouldn’t be afraid. Randi knew intrinsically that whatever stalked her from the dark depths wasn’t Blake Woolven. She didn’t know how she knew, but her belief was immutable. All the doubts she raised with logic were brushed away like cobwebs.
Randi forced her feet to move. She wouldn’t run. Running invited pursuit. She would stand there, get a grip on her fear, swallow her terror and breathe in the night air. That was the reason she’d come outside, and it would steady her, anchor her, and calm the thundering stampede in her chest.
Then she’d turn and head back toward the house at a reasonable pace and hope whatever watched her would fear the light—or Blake Woolven.
Randi didn’t bother to reconcile any of it in her logical mind, she functioned on pure instinct. She could pick either logic or break down sobbing, frozen with fear. The latter? Simply not an option.
She turned and focused on Aphelion. One foot in front of the other.
Even when the silent night shattered with rustling in the underbrush, signalling something big moved toward her. Even when she heard a growl so low and menacing, her blood turned to ice in her veins.
The roar finally caused her to turn. The howl of bestial fury didn’t give her a choice.
What she saw shattered her belief system—something unholy. Unreal.
And there were two of them.
The first one looked just like every werewolf she’d ever seen in the shittiest B-rated horror movies. Bipedal, huge, some strange breed of wolf and man, all angry, slavering predator with knife-like teeth and human intelligence in those horrible, horrible amber eyes.
Just like Blake’s.
I’m the King of Monsters.
Oh Christ. She stuffed her fist in her mouth to keep from screaming.
His black muzzle was ringed with blood, and he fought with another creature to get to her. But the other beast… he was white, almost like snow. Just as big and just as angry as the other abomination, yet he seemed to have put himself between her and the first one.
Maybe he wanted to devour her himself.
She wanted to run. Needed to flee. She needed to wipe this from her mind and go back to the days when the night held no terror for her because science banished all her childhood demons.
This was why her father died.
These… beasts… the silver nitrate…
Blake’s ear burned.
Her mind was a jumble and still she couldn’t force herself to move away from the snarling, snapping and tearing beasts in front of her.
The white one turned and she saw its muzzle. Its—his—face. Five long scratches ran from brow to throat.
Just like Warner Woolven.
His amber eyes, those same eyes from the day she’d met him, appraised her briefly. The terrible knowledge there, it was too much for her.
Her stomach twisted on itself and she bit so hard into her fist. She drew blood, causing both wolves to turn their attention her way.
The white beast, still engaged in the fight, tilted his head back and howled. She’d heard the same howl on the night when Blake ran to her rescue, concerned that she’d been tampered with somehow.
Would he come and save her? A hairy champion? Mad laughter welled in the back of her throat. Would he look like them?
Her question was answered with a return howl.
Drew, Parker, and Blake burst through the front doors of Aphelion. They changed from men to wolves right before her eyes. Somehow, they weren’t as terrible as the misshapen creatures in front of her.
They covered the distance separating them almost instantly then Drew and Parker launched themselves on the dark beast.
Blake merged from a great amber wolf into a man at her feet. His eyes glowed. While her fear was still present—in fact, it rose like bile in her throat—she wasn’t afraid of him.
Logically, she knew she should be.
But she wasn’t.
He would not hurt her.
Randi would guess the women who wrote love letters to serial killers had that same sort of thought. Was she one of those? Would she end up more meat for the predator’s table?
She turned to look back at the bloody fight, but the power of his voice forced her to look at Blake.
“No, don’t look now. Come to me, Randi.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.” Randi hated how her voice sounded, so weak and afraid. She hated more that she felt those things.
Instead of demanding anything else from her, he swept her into his arms. The connection of his flesh on hers immediately soothed her, calmed her. Made her feel safe.
This was all madness.
“They fight for you, Randi. You’re safe. I won’t hurt you. Neither will any other Woolven.”
She believed him when he said it.
Until she remembered him chasing her down in the maze. He’d said he liked chasing her, liked her when she was prey…
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t what? Don’t be afraid? How would you feel?” She began shaking as if she were freezing.
“Don’t think about the maze. I didn’t hurt you and I wouldn’t have hurt you. I’ll admit, I do love chasing you, and I love catching you even more, but only for pleasure.”
“Make it go away. Make me forget. I don’t want to know.”
“Ah, sweetheart. There are so many things I can do, but that’s not one of them.” He kissed the top of her head, an oddly gentle act from a beast.
The doors to Aphelion swung open seemingly on their own. He carried her inside, and she buried her face in his neck. She didn’t want to see anything, know anything. She wanted
it to all go away.
Right now, he was so warm, so strong, and so solid. He was real. He was safe.
Why would she think Blake Woolven safe?
This was wrong. Not just wrong, but bad-wrong. All of it was.
He deposited her in her bed and touched his forehead to hers. “You are strong enough for this. You are safe.”
“Oh god, you’re leaving me. Don’t leave me alone.” Randi hated that she begged him, hated that he made her feel safe, but she couldn’t be alone.
The look on his face was one of sheer agony. “I have to. I need to talk to the dead wolf walking who attacked you. Find out who he’s working for.”
She shook her head, but bit down hard on her cheek. The copper tang on her tongue fortified her somehow. “You think he had something to do with what happened to my father.”
“I do.” He nodded. “When I’m done, I’ll come back. We can talk. I’ll answer all of your questions.”
“Big Bad, huh?” She sniffed and released him.
“If that’s what it takes.” He nodded at her again, slowly. “Randi, you can handle this. And anything else that comes your way. Another smaller prototype of the plasma gun is under your bed. If anyone enters this room, you shoot them.”
He’d given her the tools to kill his kind.
She kept remembering his smoking ear, the calm casual way he’d wanted to inspect her room. The way Mrs. Westwood had handed her another canister of pepper spray…
“Say it, Randi. Say you’re okay.”
“I’m okay.” She found, as she spoke the words, it made it true.
“That’s my Alpha bitch.” He flashed her a grin that made it impossible to be angry he’d called her a bitch. His grin melted into a hard line. “I’ll find out everything he knows then I’m going to kill him. He will never have a chance to hurt you again.”
“If he’s from this other group who wants to go to war with you, won’t his death give them what they want?”
He paused. “Maybe. But I don’t give a fuck about that.”
All of the times she’d thought she’d seen his veneer slip, that she thought she’d glimpsed an animal, were nothing compared to the raw emotion coming from him now. This wasn’t something he could fake.
Big Bad Billionaire (The Woolven Secret Book 1) Page 7
