Chapter Nine

Erin “Don’t you ever do as you’re told? Shh. Someone has been here,” Hunter whispered as I heard the click of the door lock as it disengaged. “Blood.” He nods at the baseboard at the door. “Not very recent, though. A few hours maybe.”

Steady hands are immediately on my waist and yanking me into the hallway. He pushed me out of the way into an alcove. “Do. Not. Move.” While he only mouthed the words, I felt their strength.

He surveyed the floor and area near my door and when he seemed satisfied, he pulled out his phone. He punched a number and waited before speaking in rapid-fire, using few words to someone on the other end. The electronic was then shoved in his back pocket as he started walking toward the door that I had just realized was opened a crack. How could I have missed that?

I took a step in the direction of my apartment and Hunter’s look could have incinerated me if I allowed it that power. I gave him an irritated response and he grumbled so low and fiercely I stepped back without another word. Why did I have to fight them anyway? I didn’t want to. He started back again and this time I stayed put. It took only a couple of minutes for him to return to the hallway, his arms open for me to fall into them.

“What’s wrong?” I mumbled my question into the distinctly male fragrant flannel shirt he’d worn to the police station. I suddenly wondered what happened to his suit jacket from the police station. He’d obviously divested himself of it while in the car. And why? Because he is here for you, not to conduct company business. I melted a little more.

“We need to wait on my guys to finish and then I’ll call the police. Someone has been inside your place. It has been some hours, I’d say.”

“What?” I tore out of his arms. He must not have expected that because I was at the entry before he snagged my hand. The place was ripped to shreds. Literally.

“Oh, my holy…”

“You need to stand out in the hallway until my people arrive.” We heard the foyer door open and heavy footfalls double-timing on the steps.

“How did they get in the building or the apartment?”

“Remember I told you for a couple of days, the place wouldn’t be as secure as it would be when we were done? It’s possible they knew someone here that let them in or they were already in the building and never left yesterday morning. My guys checked public areas, but not private homes feeling it too much of a violation. That was the police’s job.” He pulled me out of the way when his security team began to glove and boot up.

“Now what?” It was as much a wail as a question.

“Now we take you to Suzanne’s, or my place.”

I didn’t notice it before, but the scent of wet dog and something rancid permeated the hallway. I covered my nose and looked back into the room. The apartment had not only been ransacked, but totally destroyed. Sofa and chair that I loved, ripped all to hell. Everything on the walls torn off. My cute dinette table was thrown against a wall; cabinets literally destroyed. A freight train couldn’t have done more damage.

“We’ll get through this.”

“Someone had to hear this, Hunter. It isn’t possible that this kind of damage was done without detection.”

“We will figure this out, I promise.”

All I could do was nod. I can’t even pretend to want to stay now. But I have to retrieve the flash drive. I had barely crossed the threshold when Hunter’s hands are at my waist, pulling me back. I fought him. It was stupid, he was too strong.

“I have to get the bags.” I didn’t explain, but reached in the coat closet for the sack of layered reusable grocery bags that housed Joey’s thumb drive, shoving them into my pack.

Hunter gave me a strange look and I took a quick glance around the room. There was a wet fur scent and it had been sleeting, but I have never seen a dog in the building so why the sudden smell this weekend? And they were undoubtedly looking for something because the sofa was ripped to shreds, the containers holding rice and other foodstuff were emptied out. Everything that was mine was destroyed.

“Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you out of here.”

I don’t know what I’ll do, but I know I can’t stay here. I turn to run, tears streaming, and it dawns on me that I have nowhere to go. My car. I’ll just go sit in it for a while. Maybe drive around. Perhaps I’d drive back to Seattle on the Alcan highway, or go on the ferry or anything else but stand here. I start running.

I don’t go half a dozen steps before I am lifted off my feet and held tight to a muscular, warm body that smells of alpine air, masculine spice, and safety. Hunter wrapped me up in his arms. He punched in a number and I hear Gage on the line.

“What’s up? Is Erin okay?”

“Physically, yes. Otherwise, no. Get your ass over to her apartment and bring reinforcements.”

Hunter carried me to the office on the first floor. I didn’t remember getting there. I don’t even know if he took the elevator or stairs. I couldn’t stop crying. I’ll be angry later. Right now, my pulse was racing and my breath was hard to catch. I’ve been devastated before but this ranked up there with the loss of my family. And I was petrified. Without letting me go, he sat on the sofa in the office, settled me on his lap and allowed me to get comfortable. As I curl up into his lap, I listened as my protector barked orders no one would dare disregard. It sounded as though he was calling in the whole company.

I wanted to tell him not to bother. That is was all right. I wanted to tell him I’d be fine. I’d get through it, but I couldn’t because I didn’t know if I’d ever be all right again. I didn’t want to deal with anything yet, so I watched him send and receive messages, starring but not really seeing. It’s an incredible feeling to allow someone else to deal with my life for a short time. I leaned back and closed my eyes as the tears leak out of the corners and we both waited on Gage.

Several more of the security team arrived before Gage walked into the building and I told Hunter to go with them. He hesitated, not willing to leave me alone, so he allowed me to follow them back up to my apartment. I started to show them my destroyed home and Hunter caught me by the waist. I wonder if I’m ever going to complete a task alone since these men have attached to me. There was comfort in knowing they would be there for me and there is irritation at the restrictive nature my life had become.

“My guys will handle that, sweetheart. I want you to step back into the hall. It isn’t something you need to look at again.”

I nodded, too upset to do anything but let Hunter take over. “Okay.”

He led me to the alcove I was in earlier and I sat on the floor. He smoothed my hair in a caress and kissed the top of my head. It was one of the sweetest kisses I’ve ever had. I’d tried boyfriends in the first half of college, but it always ended the same. If I didn’t put out, they didn’t want to stay. I never was convinced to put out under pressure. So there I was, thinking this take-charge demi-god who was so dominant he brought the fighter out in me, was being gentle because he kissed me on the top of my head. Pathetic, Erin. But I’d lived on the kindness of strangers for half of my lifetime and I had learned to draw comfort from those chance happenings.

“I can hear the police at the entry door. We need to let them in.”

Hunter hesitated. “You can hear them?”

“I told you: good hearing.”

I sat and waited for two cops to mount the stairs on their way to my third-floor apartment. I sat numbly watching Hunter interact with the officers. These were different from the ones early yesterday morning. I let Hunter do all the talking as I sat and numbly watched. I told myself I was in a type of shock.

My memory went back over what I’d seen. The few lovely things I had acquired over the last few years were all destroyed. I could see the room clearly in my mind’s eye. I’d always been able to do in-depth recall. It was a blessing and a curse. Today it was a curse. All I could see was what the officers, assisted by Hunter, were seeing. I stood and walked down the hall to the back stairs, exiting out the back door of the building. Something inside me needed the freedom running had always given me. My brain wouldn’t turn off.

What would I do now? I had a decent income, but not enough to get a new place and new furniture. The one thing that I was sure of was I was not returning to this building. Maybe I’d go back to Seattle. But I loved this little community. Really, it wasn’t much of a community by city standards, but it was perfect for me. The population was manageable, my neighborhood quiet, there were hiking trails created by nature, wildlife and a few lakes and mountains nearby. I never felt so free and alive as when I was out in the woods. It appeared as though that would be over soon. I couldn’t afford to live in this area without a great job or subsidized rent. Joey had provided all of that. Why didn’t you tell me what you were afraid of? Now you’re dead and I’m in someone’s sights and I don’t know why. How could I fight an enemy I didn’t know?

I headed for my car that we’d left the day before. There it stood, exactly where I had parked it except for a rather important detail, the whole car was completely torn asunder. Inside and out. The tires were intact, though. I turned and headed for the woods at a dead run. I needed to clear my head and find out what was going on. Plan my next move. Scream. Cry.

I don’t know how long I ran before the stitch in my side forced me to slow down and ultimately stop running altogether. That’s where Hunter found me. I don’t know how he did it, but he found me: my big bad werewolf. Oh, I knew it was fiction, but a girl can dream a little. I could have used a little fairytale in my life, right at that moment. I heard footsteps a long way off and knew I had time to head in a different direction. The steps turned the same way. I tried to divert again with the same results. Finally, side aching, chest burning, legs showing signs of cramping, I climbed up into a nearby tree and sat in the limbs.

I had always been limber and athletically inclined, climbing, running, jumping, and taking long walks were who I was inside. As I sat quietly, I began to cool. That’s when I noticed I had sneakers and a sweater on. Nothing else. It must be ten degrees. I shivered and created a cocoon with my knitted top and breathed inside the shelter.

I’d inherited my keen senses from my parents and grandparents. They said I got the best of all of them. I remember my parents enjoying the woods. My mother, especially, loved it. They would take turns wandering off and coming back happy. Now they were all gone. I don’t know what happened to my grandparents. Just one day my parents were gone in an accident and the next, I was in a group home. I was told they didn’t know where my grandparents were. They never found them.

And now came the tears.

***

Hunter I looked everywhere for her and finally, when the police had gone, I followed her scent. A green, bright scent with lemon and florals like a field of summer flowers. Gage was caught with a client in court on personal protection detail and still had not extricated himself from them. I knew he was about to turn his wolf loose and let him handle the issue. Her ass was going to be as hot as a summer day when I caught up to her. Didn’t she know how dangerous her world was right now? Didn’t she care?

I was freezing my balls off and she had to be an ice crystal by now. I could smell her fear and emotional turmoil before I reached her. It was as strong a scent as any she was giving off physically. Her essence was overpowering in a little grouping of vegetation. There hadn’t been a trail for half a mile, just dirt and grass. I wondered if she knew how far she’d gone. I estimated it was at least four miles into the forest. And did she know how to get back? The snow wasn’t as heavy in the woods, but it certainly had a hard crust of ice that crackled when taking a step into it. It was hard to walk in while in human form. I looked down for her tracks when the scent was gone. The trail stopped here, but where was she? It was then that I heard the tears and looked up.

Erin was sitting quite comfortably in the tree over my head and quietly crying. Never one to be easily swayed by a woman’s tears, in fact, I often brought women to tears purposely, Erin’s almost brought me to my knees. The churning in my gut was steady and signaled my body preparing for the change. My wolf wanted to bound up the tree, but wolves didn’t climb trees as well as his girl seemed to do. She was a fair distance up.

I could have climbed without a problem, but I had more control over my actions so long as I could keep the wolf at bay. It wasn’t what she needed. No more scaring her if that was what this was. I pushed back the growl that came in answer to finding I was less than in complete control in this situation. Hell, I’d been lost for more than two days. I didn’t do helpless and my wolf, well he’d never been weak. The tug in my belly was painful. I tamped down the need to drop to all fours.

“Come down to me, honey.”

My words came out in a rough growl. I reached out my hands. She ignored me. Of course, she did. I could feel my hand slapping that butt and I wouldn’t show any mercy. I wasn’t the spanker really, Gage was. I disciplined all right, but I used other methods. Methods that were off-limits to me until we had an arrangement and a relationship. I hadn’t even made love to her in a real bed yet. I hadn’t earned the right to do more than keep her safe.

People were afraid of me. They followed my orders. Not this girl, she openly defied me causing me to battle with my wolfman who wanted this alpha woman as his life-mate. She excited him. He needed to bond with her, take her hard, then punish her for a long time. Edging was my way and it would fill the need for all three nicely.

She didn’t say anything at first and made no move. I waited. There was a long list of things in my office waiting on my approval, perusal, validation, but right now, the only thing that mattered was meeting my girl’s needs. And that felt right and wrong. I was a man that believed in regimen, control, discipline. I shouldn’t give in to her for a whole laundry list of reasons, but I wanted to give it all to her anyway.

I sat at the bottom of the tree and waited. She was pretty high up in the vegetation and I wondered if she would be able to get down. I needn’t have worried because after some time she lowered herself carefully, but with the strength and precision of a freaking monkey as she swung down the trunk to the ground. She had done this plenty of times before.

I didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t trigger her again. It was a situation I was unfamiliar with. I knew what I wanted to do. My need to protect was so deeply visceral that my wolfman had too much control, which equaled less power for me. He didn’t see the need for it, but I did. Erin was one of the few instances where my inner self almost overcame my outer self. I still didn’t have much hope that I could control him in the end. Where the hell was Gage?

“Hunter. Are you angry?” She was so close I could touch her. I felt her hot breath, tasted the salt of her tears in the air. The cold surrounded her. She was shivering uncontrollably.

“What do you think? You scared the hell out of me. I think you have earned more than a few swats this time.” She stood with her head cocked.

“You mean to spank me for real?” She sounded almost hopeful, the little minx.

“Discipline and I don’t think that’s the method I’ll use. You like it just a bit too much. Know anything about edging?”

She sighed. “No, but I get you didn’t want to come find me. I shouldn’t have just run. But being out here makes me feel better. Sometimes there is such a pull, a kind of knowing. I have to get out and run, climb, hike, so badly that I can’t ignore it. I don’t calm down until I’ve done it.”

I had to touch her, and I pulled her close. I understood what she was describing. It was her animal. It was why she was not as horrified when we took over. Her inner animal craved this type of relationship. I didn’t know much at all about hybrids so I would need to get to the elders quickly. Gage may have had long months to build their relationship, but I figured I had the hang of it now.

“So discipline and maybe some loving, yeah?”

She grinned and nodded. “Yeah.” I could smell her arousal. She was excited by the idea, naughty girl. My big bad wolf grinned. She had ovulated and her estrus would coincide with the full moon. Was that normal for her? Did she even realize that her cycle synced with the lunar phases? Was it typical for humans? I didn’t think so.

I knew if we wanted this woman, we might not be too careful on the full moon. In fact, there would be very little control. We’d had orgasmic sex, but we should bed her properly, long and slow, first before full moon life bonding to kill some of the desperate urgency we were all feeling. While it was a good plan, time was definitely running out for that. I could have taken her tonight. She had wanted it, but I’m glad we didn’t. She deserved a bed and a long, slow burn before consummating. Lobas’ cycles happened on the lunar rotation, but he thought human women synced to each other. The next full moon was days away.

“Okay…” She paused and I waited. The little beauty had more to say. Her voice was stronger and more like her sassy self. “I’m afraid, Hunter. What do I do now? I can’t go back to the apartment. I won’t go back.” Her crooked smile was comical and sad at the same time. “Can I come home with you, please?”

“Finally. Yes, come home with me, with us. I’ve been telling you to do that for two days, woman.”

“I know.”

And that was that. We were going to take our girl home, not sure she would ever leave, or if I would ever let her leave. I know Gage wouldn’t. We’d figure out how we would keep her later. Now she wanted nurturing, protecting, and punishing before sex. My wolf hungered to do those things and so much more. Thinking of what I wanted to do to her, I really felt like the big bad wolf I had only been teasing about before now.

Human hybrid and determining what to do for her was next on the agenda. If she were a hybrid, and she hadn’t shifted, which I was positive she had not, it would be paramount to her wellbeing to accomplish that the sooner the better. I needed to speak to the elders in the pack. It was something they would have surely come in contact with at some point and I needed their advice. They would love it. The elders always said that the younger pups, meaning anyone younger than themselves, never took their advice. This should be good for some kudos.

We returned to the office to make sure everything was taken care of and to give Erin some protein and water. I hadn’t thought that a human would want something else, but my girl scarfed that jerky like she hadn’t eaten for days. I dragged her back onto my lap to wait for my replacement. I punched in Gage’s number again as I warmed my girl up. The run back helped, but she was already too cold. The protein and fluid should help.

***

Erin When Gage arrived a few moments after I had settled into Hunter’s lap, I had to smile. He made me feel all squishy inside as he stormed into the office, heading directly for me. I imagined he would snatch me out of Hunter’s lap, but there was a level of respect and almost deference that he seemed to afford Hunter. Not in the boss and employee kind of way because in business they seem equal, but privately. Gage stood expectantly and Hunter kissed me full on the lips before pulling his arms away for Gage to take me from Hunter’s lap. Gage sat with me settled on his hard thighs. Hunter got up and started to stalk the problem like prey.

When the other security detail came back down, Hunter listened to them as they explained what was going on upstairs.

“Shouldn’t we go talk to the police?” I asked.

“We have and we will again, baby, but we need to let them look at the inside and formulate their plan first. We got our information before they stormed in and destroyed things we might need later. They don’t see everything we do.”

“Gage.” Hunter’s tone was a warning.

“Hunter, things are escalating. We’re going to have to figure some of this out sooner rather than later.”

“I can remember it all,” I said.

“What?” asked Gage.

“The inside of my place. I can see it in my mind. I know what and where everything is and looks like. Before and now. My brain kind of works like that. I don’t want to go there, but if I must, I can do it to help find who did this. And my car. It’s destroyed. It has the same marks as the apartment. Like a rake.”

“Hunter, are you sure it’s Cú Ifreann.”

“No, but can’t you smell it?” asked Hunter.

“That’s the scent in the hall outside Erin’s?” asked Gage.

I lifted my head. “You mean that oily, iron, rancid stink and a wet dog?”

“Is it what you smelled before?” asked Hunter.

“No, just wet dog then but today, yes.”

“Hunter, let me finish this. You get her out of here. Take her home.”

“Gage, I started this. I’ll finish it. You get our girl home.”

“No, I can’t. I don’t have clothes, or… or anything.” I don’t have anything. Nothing. What am I going to do? I’ve not felt this type of despair since my parents died and they never found my grandparents. I have no one, and now I have nothing.

“You have us and we’ll make sure you have everything you have ever wanted. Baby, we have things to settle here and I need to get you safe. Then we have a lot to talk about.” Gage stood and put my feet on the ground.

“Where are your boots? Is this the only thing you wore? No coat? No hat, scarf? Tell me you at least brought gloves.”

“And our girl went for a run.”

“Like this?” Gage turned to me after getting a nod from Hunter. I got the impression there was more to that question than I knew. I felt like a little girl being chastised. “You are not going anywhere without me. Do you hear?”

I nodded and sighed. It satisfied the man who loved to nurture me. I loved it too. I won’t be able to keep Joey’s secret any longer. I think it’s time to tell. I hope I can do what he wants, but if not, well, I’ll have done my best.

“I need to tell you something.”