Page 14 of Wolf
Ignoring me, his hand moves up from the curve of my hips and past my waist. “Fuck, all these curves in this tiny body are enough to make me want to do more than just this weapons pat-down,” he whispers at the whorl of my ear. He stops over my breasts, massaging the flesh for a moment before slipping his hand past my collarbone and across myneck.
“Please stop,” I say as his straying hand comes to rest with his fingers buried in my long hair. This time I’m begging, but I hear the weakness of my voice and can’t help but become angry at myself. His touch ignites my body, sending heat and need to places I’ve never known could feel thishot.
“Make me,” he dares, and tugs my hair back, immobilizing my head, probably so I don’t reverse head-butt him in the face. I feel his lips at my ear and his hard cock at my back, and when his hips rock forward, I know it’s intentional, to make me fear for what he’ll do next, to show me that I’m at hismercy.
Reaching back with my arms, I catch fistfuls of his shirt and try to move him away, but it only makes him lean more of his body weight into me. I use one foot to back-kick his shins, but it’s no use. I have zeroleverage.
“If you’re not going to kill me, let me go,” I ask again. A faint whiff of his woodsy cologne hits my nostrils, and I swear my body reacts with a tremor. Then I feel his mouth at my earlobe. He tugs the flesh with his teeth, and his lips slide down to my neck, sucking one spot so hard I’m sure it’ll leave a mark. I curse myself as my hips push back into him, getting a firmer feel of his dick on me. I want to resist. I want to fight with everything in me, but I have to admit, I also want to stay and find out what else he’ll do to my body. I should be ashamed for feeling this way about the man who’s been shadowing me all week. I just can’t helpit.
“I’ll let you go, Little Red,” he growls. “But just remember. You might’ve found me, but I’m the one who marked you. Be grateful that I don’t follow my urge to fuck the fight out of you. Right here against thiswall.”
His words hit me like a Mack truck, sending unfamiliar need coursing through my veins, all the way to my pulsingcore.
Losing my parents so early on made me mistrustful and at a distance from most everyone. I’ve never had a man or boy put his cock this close to me, and I never had the desire to. Survival and blending in were my only two goals. I think my life or death instinct kept the boys away too. They looked, but they never made a move on me all through high school. I probably intimidated them. But this man, he’s not in the least bit afraid of me. I’m intoxicated. It’s as though his words, his body, his mere presence is a key that unlocks my body and makes it comealive.
“I’m going to count to three,” he continues in a threatening groan and tugs my hair a little harder. “On three, I’ll let you go, and you’ll have five seconds to pick up your pigsticker and get the fuck out of here.Understood?”
“Dammit,” I answer, feeling my anger bubble up my chest for letting him have the upper hand this time. “Okay yes, but can I at least know the name of the man I plan to place at the top of my list of enemies? Just in case it isn’t clear, I meanyou.”
“I can give you one of a dozen fake names. None of them will help you track me down. But as you asked nicely, it’s Thorne Pierce. You’ve been marked by The Hunter, LittleRed.”
Holycrap.
I gasp and wish I hadn’t made a sound the moment after I hear it. I know exactly who he is, though I shouldn’t have been so obvious about it. I’ve heard of him. He’s a tracker, a mercenary, a cold killer with no mercy. His name is uttered on lowered breaths in underground circles, in places I make it my business to stay connected to, if only to be aware of them, if and when I become the object of a hit. To the outside world, where most people have the mistaken belief that what they see is all there is, this man is no one. A ghost. But I know better. And now, I’ve seen hisface.
“One. Two. Three.” On three, he does as he promises, taking one massive stepback.
I’m sure that his gun must still be trained on me. He’s not that stupid. Reaching down, I grab my knife, and I run. I’ll live another day. The first thing I need to do is get my grandmother and best friends out of harm’s way. After that, The Hunter will become the hunted, and I won’t stop until one of us isdead.
8
Rose
I’m so not letting Grams stay anywhere near thisshit.
I hurry home and slip in through the sliding door at the back of the house, taking light footsteps. Grams should be sleeping. She can sleep all night tonight, but before the day ends tomorrow, I’ll make sure she’s on her way to putting two thousand miles between her and this trouble that’s found us. Dragging in a ragged breath, I glide the pad of my index finger along the raised edge of the tiny script engraved on my earring. I’m beyond upset, but what I need to do is push my rage away so I can think straight. I run a tight circle around the engraving, trying to center myself as I’ve done countless times before, but this time it’s sohard.
I should be embarrassed more than anything—I didn’t just let Thorne Pierce get the advantage on me, I went too far and allowed my body to enjoy his rugged touch. Fuck. That should never havehappened.
Entering my bedroom, I head over to my laptop on my writing desk, pressing the power button as I take a seat at the upholstered chair I bought a few months ago. Had I known this man would show up after all this time, I would’ve made sure that Grams and I kept our belongings to a bare minimum. All the money spent remodeling this house would be handy now, liquid cash instead of modern conveniences and useless trimming I may have to walk away from if things become too complex tofix.
The muscles in my shoulders tense up and my fingers close intofists.
Who the hell am I kidding? They’re already too complex tofix.
Logging in quickly, I immediately open the web browser to find a travel site. Grams has a younger brother out east. I think it’s time she has an extended visit. Her flight is booked within a few minutes, and I print the ticket and itinerary, folding it and placing it into as cheerful an envelope I can find. I even twist together a few ribbons and wrap it around the envelope to pretty it up some more. This has to look like I’ve been planning it for a while or she’ll start asking questions. That’s the last thing Iwant.
My next task involves protecting Trish and Luke. This is going to take some planning and probably some scheming, but I have to find a way. The Hunter’s reputation is one for ruthlessness. When he gets a kill order, he doesn’t just take out the target, he wipes out whoever stands in his way during the process. He’s also known to use the important people in his targets’ lives to draw them into the open. Trish and Luke are my only friends. I won’t let them become collateral damage for this assassin, or to be used as bait to get to me. No matter what it takes. I need to send them and Grams out of harm’s way before I can focus all my effort on Thorne Pierce. I refuse to have their deaths on my conscience. It just can’t get tothat.
Then I remember something and smile. Paying attention to random chit-chat does serve a purpose, after all. I have a vague recollection of a conversation with my best friends a few months ago. Luke is so quirky sometimes. He added‘go on a three-week Ozarks vacation’to the top of his bucket list, complete with a sleek cigarette boat rental for touring, sightseeing, and fishing. They’re both on summer break from their teaching jobs, and money has been tight for them since they bought their first house together. Well, I can’t think of a better time for them to cross that unusual dream vacation off his list,together.
But coming up with the idea of gifting them a trip is one thing. Getting them to accept my gift is a whole other beast. It’ll take some serious effort. My best friends will be suspicious. It’s not every day that people go that far for their bestie and her man. To make it more palatable, I decide to do the opposite. I go back online and purchase two return bus tickets to the Lake of the Ozarks via Kansas City, put in a ten-day booking request for a tiny one-bedroom cabin, then I rent the boat. A shorter, budget vacation is something I can pull off. It’ll show Trish that I mean well, scraping together what I can to give them a memorable experience, especially as they never had a honeymoon after they got hitched. They felt it was more responsible to put their remaining savings toward buying ahouse.
But packaged up this way, something smaller and more in line with what they know about me, they won’t be able to turn it down. It’s too meaningful a gesture to say noto.
With these trips planned, a bit of my anxiety subsides, but not enough to make a difference to the ball of panic sitting inside mychest.
Changing into an oversized t-shirt, I crawl into bed and pull the covers over me. My fingertips pass over my earring again, hoping for some comfort. I say their names in awhisper.
