Page 14 of Hunted

Or possibly drag her into the bedroom and ravish her until she screamed his name.

But despite what he’d said, he did know Mikey. She was stubborn as a rock, and the more he pushed her, the more she’d push back.

She was the sexiest, most exciting, most infuriating woman he’d ever known.

Breathe.

He didn’t need her cooperation. He had all her gear. The antidote had to be there somewhere—the Hounds had just underestimated how tricky she could be. He’d find it.

And if he couldn’t, Plan B was to tell her just enough of the truth to get her to give it up. The problem with that was Thanatos. This was not some random bounty hunter they were dealing with anymore. She was a product of the most prominent Enforcer pack in the entire shifter world, and she might still be working for them.

Gunn was pretty sure he knew what Thanatos would say about giving her any more information than she already knew about Outlaw Ridge and their missions.

She’d be lucky if he let her out of here alive with the little she did know. We are monsters. That’s how we do what we do.

The damn woman had absolutely no idea how much danger she was in—and he couldn’t tell her. But at least he could try an end run around all that stubbornness.

Impatience was her biggest weakness, and the one most likely to lead to a mistake.

Gunn opened the fridge and started pulling out sandwich makings. Sure enough, his silence—and his control—started making Mikey edgy. He knew she hated sitting and waiting.

It only took a couple of minutes until she felt compelled to fill the silence with snark. “So how did you become alpha here?” she asked. “Murder? Betrayal? Somebody lose a bet?”

He was careful not to let her see his little smirk of satisfaction. “Yep,” he said, spreading mustard on bread slices. “Won the pack in a poker game.”

He heard her snort. At least she hadn’t totally lost her sense of humor. But her words still had barbs on them.

“Yeah, it seems like you don’t have much control over most of them. Your pack bond’s a little thin, wouldn’t you say?”

That was normally a deadly insult to an alpha, but he ignored the bait. He wasn’t a normal alpha; hadn’t wanted to be one at all. He already knew he sucked at it.

Instead, he went with a few barbs of his own. “Oh, that’s right,” he said, slapping slices of ham on top of the mustard. “I forgot you come from fairy-tale world, where everyone is bonded and loves each other soooo much.”

“It’s not a fairy tale,” she said sharply. “It’s the way things should be.”

He said nothing, and she added softly, “You wanted that once. Or anyway, you said you did.”

That barb went home. Gunn clenched his fingers around the handle of the knife in his hand, not wanting to let her see. Breathe.

He made his voice come out casual. “Everyone wants that, babe. Some of us are smart enough to know it’s only for the lucky ones.”

She had no answer for that.

He finished the sandwiches in silence, then put the plate in front of her, with an open bottle of water. Mikey poked at the sandwiches. “So what’s in these? Truth serum?”

The corner of his mouth quirked, and he didn’t try to hide it this time. “Ham and cheese, mostly. A little mustard. Dijon, of course. It brings out the delicate flavors in the ham.”

“Ha ha. I can see you’ve turned into a gourmet.”

Gunn started to turn away, and then heard his mouth say, “You should eat. You’re too thin. You look like you haven’t had a good meal in days.”

Fuck. He hadn’t meant to say that. But it was true.

“I haven’t,” she said, her mouth already full. “Too busy chasing your friend.”

That wasn’t it, though. She looked like she hadn’t eaten right in a long time—like nothing with her had been right in a long time.

Finally he said softly, “What the hell happened to you, Mikey?”