Page 8 of Warrior Unraveled

The last word had barely left his lips when Virginia gripped his biceps and slammed him against the stone wall. The crushing impact forced all air from his lungs, making him gasp.

“You think this is a joke?”

He snatched a quick breath. His admiration for the female Stealth Guardian had just risen by a hundred points. She was no pushover. Not a woman who would be won over with a few easy compliments. She was hard as nails, and if she pressed him against the wall a little longer, her thighs touching his, her forearms pinning his torso to the stone, one part of his anatomy would be just as hard.

“No, I don’t think this is a joke,” Wes said as calmly as he could. “But you must admit, you’re going about this a little heavy-handed, aren’t you?”

Her eyes narrowed in displeasure, and she applied more pressure—not only to his chest, but also to his lower body. He had to suppress a moan, clenching his jaw to hide the fact that her treatment wasn’t having the intended effect on him. Instead of intimidating him and putting him in his place, she was turning him on.

“I’m happy to answer any questions you have. I swear I’m only here to seek an alliance between your race and the company I work for. My boss at Scanguards might be a vampire, but he—”

“A vampire? You work with vampires?”

Genuine surprise made the green flecks in her irises shine like fireflies. For the first time since meeting her, her protective shell showed a hairline crack.

“I already explained all this to Aiden and the others. Guess nobody’s passed the information on to you.” He knew full well that neither Hamish nor Aiden had had a chance yet to talk to their superiors, but there was something about Virginia that made him want to provoke her so she lost her cool.

“Give me the summary!” she demanded.

Considering that she made no move to release him—and he did enjoy feeling her body pressed to his—he decided to go with the extended version.

“Well, since you’re asking…”

She growled like a tigress.

Fuck! Pull yourself together, man!

“I was born the second of three children to a witch—”

“You do know what a summary is, don’t you? Let me translate it for you: the short version!”

“This is the short version. Witch’s honor.”

“For the last time: summarize!”

“Fine.” He attempted a shrug, but she still had him pinned too tightly. “My siblings and I were meant to be the Power of Three. A witch betrayed us. My brother Haven gave up his mortal life, became a vampire. Ergo: Power of Three went poof. Result: vampires became our allies. The end.”

~ ~ ~

“You suck at summarizing.”

Virginia let go of him and took a step back. If she’d had to spend one more second pressing her body against his, she would have forgotten why she was here and tossed the impertinent witch to the floor to ride him.

Damn it!

She’d treated plenty prisoners the way she handled Wesley, but never had she experienced any kind of sexual reaction in the process. Not so this time. Her nipples were hard and aching to be touched. She was glad she’d worn a leather jacket, which concealed her inappropriate response to his alluring body. She was also glad he wasn’t a vampire, who would have smelled her arousal.

“I can give you the full version. Maybe over a glass of wine or whiskey?” Wesley added and smiled.

She had to grudgingly admit that he had a certain charm—and he used it to his advantage. But she wasn’t stupid. This wasn’t personal for him. He’d clearly used the same charm to rope the entire Baltimore compound into whatever scheme he was working on.

“Don’t bother. I get what you’re up to. It’s not working.”

“What am I up to?”

“Trying to win me over like you’ve done with the others.” She motioned toward the story above. “They’re still young. Too green to understand all the consequences of their actions. I, on the other hand, am not.”

“So you’re an experienced older woman, is that what you’re trying to say?”