Page 29 of Hunted Mate
“Nobody you know. Nobody that matters.”
He smirks at me. “Same old Gray. You look like such a nice guy, but you’re a ruthless fucking animal underneath it all, aren’t you.”
I take a long drink of my beer to keep from saying I am as ruthless as our family made me, that I never had a choice to be any other way.
“It’s time you found a she-wolf and settled down,” he says.
“You’re older than me and don’t have a mate,” I point out.
“I’m not the mating kind,” he says. “Never will be. Imagine me with kids.”
“I don’t want to do that.”
“Exactly. But you’re the sort of swell guy who’d make a great dad,” he says, smirking at me like it’s a personality trait he thinks is hilarious. Imagine being a nice guy. Imagine being someone women want to breed with. Imagine walking into a room and not having everybody who knows you or ever heard of you looking either scared, disgusted, or both.
Another waitress comes by to see if we want something else. She’s a cute girl with red hair in a ponytail and keen green eyes. She’s smart, I can tell immediately. All Karl sees is a pair of luscious tits. I know that, because he says so, not even under his breath.
Her expression shifts to one of disappointment and disgust. For a second, she thought he was handsome. He never stays sexy for long. Too vile a personality.
I slip her a twenty and apologize.
She gives me a tight smile and disappears down the far end of the bar. A male bartender who must have just started his shift takes over for us.
“Tight ass on that boy,” Karl says. He doesn’t discriminate when it comes to harassment. He’s an equal opportunity asshole.
“I can’t take you fucking anywhere, will you shut the hell up.”
Karl checks his watch. “So do you think you’ve had me out here long enough for the girl you’re fucking to slip out of that apartment?”
I go cold. He knew. Of course he fucking knew. And that means…
Callie
I wait ten minutes and I slip out of the wardrobe. I have never seen Gray look that scared before. Not even when he found me sitting in his place with a gun on him. Not even when he realized I was actually going to shoot him.
Whoever that guy was, he’s afraid of him.
I slip out of the apartment and go down the stairs, into the warehouse. Something makes me stop at the van. I didn’t check it out on the way in, but I definitely take a look now. There’s a whole other bank of surveillance equipment inside. High-tech stuff. Military grade.
Whatever these wolves are doing, there’s a lot of money behind it. They’re very, very serious about not being outed by anybody. I have that feeling you get when you’re being watched, the tingling down my spine, the hairs raising on the back of my neck. I look around. Can’t see anyone. But I do know one thing: I need to get the hell out of here.
Now.
I get out of the van and someone grabs me while another someone shoves a bag over my head. I am carried and bundled into what is probably another van. I don’t fight, because I know fighting is a waste of time. I’m not strong enough to fight a man, let alone a wolf man. Let alone two of them.
I stay still. I keep quiet. I let them think they have a passive little victim on their hands. I haven’t forgotten that I have a gun. And they didn’t pat me down. They just grabbed me like I was a package scheduled for pickup.
I can’t see through the bag, though. I suppose I could take it off, but that would alert them to the fact I’m not tied up and I don’t want to get tied up… though I guess if I shoot them fast that won’t matter.
I’ve never shot anybody before, and I’m not sure I want to start. In movies, this is usually the sort of time when someone is rescued. Is Gray going to rescue me? I sure as hell hope so. I don’t want to have to be the sort of person who shoots other people. I was never going to shoot Gray. I just wanted to frighten him. And maybe shoot him.
I decide to keep the gun a secret. It’s tucked in a band underneath my pants, and as long as they leave those alone, I assume they won’t notice. Gray was just promising me that I was his and that he wouldn’t let any harm come to me, so I have to assume he’s not going to let any harm come to me.
Having come to that conclusion, I continue to sit still, small, and quiet, and I let them take me.
I can predict the conversation before they have it, because I have heard it before. There’s nothing new here. There are two people here, and they are having the conversation wolves always have when they have me in their grip.
“We should kill her.”
