The question of what business she had with Vaughan, and why the vampire seemed so willing to do her favors, had festered in my mind since last night when she’d revealed what had brought her to Hawthorne’s in the first place.
Unlike most of the other members of the Vampire Court, Vaughan could come across as sincere and even human in his behavior and emotions. That made him more dangerous than most vamps, in my experience. Even someone as distrustful and intensely private as Alice might fall into the trap of believing Vaughan was an ally or friend. Favors from vampires didn’t come withastring attached—they came with dozens, most of them invisible. They laid traps within traps and schemed without end. And a beautiful mage like Alice would be quite a prize for Vaughan.
My wolf curled his lip at the thought and sent an image of himself sinking his teeth into Vaughan’s slender, pale throat.
From my driver’s seat, I scanned Alice’s charming little two-story house. I told myself I was assessing it with the eyes of a security professional, looking for areas of concern like windows hidden by bushes or doors without good overhead lights, but most of my attention went to the upstairs window with the open curtains.
My sharp eyesight had made it easy to see her even in dim light, but I’d opened those drapes not long before she woke to let sun into her bedroom and see her in the daylight. When I’d turned around to face the bed, I’d found myself rooted in place.
Naked except for a half-dozen tattoos, Alice had lain on her side, one arm tucked under her head and long hair fanned across her pillow, her bare shoulder and leg out from under the covers because my werewolf body temperature made the bedding warmer than she was probably used to. That image of how beautiful and perfect she was in that moment was indelibly seared into my mind.
A flash of movement caught my eye and snapped me out of my reverie. A familiar pair of hands grasped the upstairs curtains and whisked them closed.
Alice hadn’t even peeked out to see if my car remained in the driveway before shutting out the daylight I’d invited in. The dismissal felt like a punctuation mark.Goodbye.
A low growl made me look inward. My wolf stared back at me, his eyes glowing golden.
Mate, he said.
My stomach dropped and I froze with my hands gripping the steering wheel until it creaked. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. My chest tightened too, full of awe, shock, and a dozen other emotions I couldn’t begin to process.
Never before had my wolf used that word. Not once. He wouldn’t use it unless he meant it, body and heart and soul.
And now there would be no peace for either of us unless the wolf got what he wanted. What webothwanted:
The mysterious, magical, and magnificent Alice Worth.
My wolf peered out through my eyes, turning my vision golden as my gaze returned to Alice’s curtained windows, warded house, and locked front door.
Well, what the hell do I do now?
Chapter
Two
Maclin Security’snewest big client didn’t like our plan for upgrading the security system in his downtown offices, and I was trying my hardest to care.
“This proposal to close my entire office for four days to do the installation is twice as long as I thought it would be.” Gerald Hines, senior partner at Hines and Associates, stabbed at the stack of pages in front of him with his thick index finger and glared at me as if he wanted to poke my chest instead. “Every day we’re closed is lost revenue for me.”
“I am very aware of that.” I kept his voice even though my wolf bared his teeth in my mind. My wolf had even less patience than usual with unreasonable clients today. “I’ll have my crews in your office for twelve hours a day during that time. We’ll work with your other contractors so as soon as each phase of our process is done they can start their finishing work. This is an extensive upgrade. I assure you we’ll work as quickly as we can while ensuring we meet bothourexpectations of quality workmanship andyours.”
Before hiring Maclin Security, Hines had interrogated both my business partner Ron Dormer and me, as well as currentclients, about the level of work he could expect from our company. He wanted the best and he was willing to pay well for it. And yet for all his harping on quality workmanship he seemed to believe it should also be done during a single night and not interrupt his or his employees’ workdays whatsoever. We’d been going around and around on this for nearly forty minutes already.
This was far from the first time I’d run into a client demanding I do my best quality work in a completely unrealistic timeline, but with the wolf pacing almost nonstop and no chance to shift and run off some of his tension, I had to dig deep to find the patience to deal with Hines—and even deeper for what I’d need to get through the two meetings I had scheduled after this one.
At least I could look forward to going to another job site this evening and ripping an old system out of the ceiling and walls with my bare hands. That ought to take the edge off until I could figure out a way to calm my wolf that didn’t involve driving directly back to Alice’s house and knocking on her heavily warded door.
My wolf growled low.No knock. Break door.
I tried not to sigh aloud.
My phone buzzed on the table. The caller was local, but not in my contacts. My thumb hovered over the button that would send the call to voicemail, but it might be an emergency. Even if not, both our client and I would benefit from a moment’s pause.
“Excuse me,” I said to Hines. He grunted.
I answered the call and raised the phone to my ear. “This is Sean.”
At first, I heard nothing except some rustling and crackling. A pocket dial? A wrong number?
