Page 14 of Mated
I never wanted this. Never wanted to be other than human. But now that I am, what am I supposed to do now?
Distant voices echo down the hall, jolting me to move.
Maneuvering out through the main doors, I hail the first cab I see. Though his eyes go wide at my less than put together appearance, the driver stops and agrees to take me back to my car. I climb in the backseat and huddle in on myself.
The little hole from the IV is gone completely. As are all the other marks Lilah said I carried. I look normal except for the blood. Like the whole nightmare never happened.
I know better. Just like I know that whoever attacked me could come back to the crime scene. And I plan on being around to catch them when they do.
Chapter 7
Tanner
Caine and I pull down the lane for the Silver Rock plantation. The thick posts on both sides of the drive have seen better fucking days. Someone tried to white wash the sign by the road, and it left the letters chalky, indiscernible. But the damn magnolia trees still line each side of the gravel path, thick and laden with blooms in the heat of a Louisiana summer.
The old plantation home has long since been removed. Too many bad memories in the monolith of history, I guess.
A new ring of cabins spread out from the makeshift parking lot, and the pack meeting hall appears clean. Well kept.
Good to know Callus hasn’t completely let the place go to shit.
I park in front of the long brick office building and climb down from my truck. Caine echoes me on the other side. “Awfully green out here, isn’t it?” he asks, gazing around at the tall trees lining every side of the clearing and the dark hollow of the basin’s edge nearby.
My eyes dip to his silk slacks and the button-up rolled halfway over his arms in the heat. “Why did you even bring that shit with you? We’re in Louisiana, not Manhattan.”
He scoffs. “I am aware, cat. Alas, not all of us can shop at Cowboys-R-Us.” His eyes rake my frame in distaste.
I ignore him and his snide tone and start across the gravel to the main door of the meeting hall.
The interior is dim, cooler than outside with fans and a few window units purring in the near quiet of the swamp. A dark-haired woman sits behind an older desk, recent copy of Cosmo in her hands. The soft scent of watermelon bubble gum fills the air as she flips the pages idly without looking up. I cough.
Her head whips over. She drops the magazine and has to pick it back up, cheeks a brilliant pink in the old fluorescent lighting.
But she recovers fast enough. Her smile is salacious, sexy, as we near. “Well … Hello.”
I smirk. “Is the Alpha available?”
“Yeah. Should be. May I ask who is inquiring?”
“Tan-man,” I say. Caine coughs next to me, and I roll my eyes. “And guest.”
“It would be my pleasure to tell him you’re here. Hang on.” She climbs slowly to her feet and walks down the hall, hips rocking in a glide that screams sex.
My eyes lock on the sway of her thick ass in a pair of shorts way too small to hold all that deliciousness inside. Just like she meant them to be.
“Damn,” Caine mutters next to me. “Are all shifter women built like that here?”
“We know how to feed them in the South, that’s for sure.”
“No shit,” he breathes.
She comes back after a moment, her mocha eyes framed with pretty long lashes as she smiles. “Alpha Callus will see you.”
Caine looks at me. “You need a hand or …”
I grin. “Knock yourself out. Just no playing if she isn’t willing.”
He turns back to the girl and her head whips between us as she swallows hard. “I always play fair, cat.” His hellfire eyes pulse and her knees weaken on a moan. “Always.”
