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Looking tired and sore from exercise he’s not used to doing, the doc hobbles out of the training grounds. Eyes beginning to drift onto me, I head back to the mats and join some of the sparring sessions. I work out my aggression on the overly cocky wolves who are too stupid to know that they should stay down when faced with a beta in this humour.
My mind spins with what could be so important that he took such a risk as coming here to find me.
Why would Lucia not let the pack doctor visit as often as he could?
I’ll deliver this message, see if Alpha Anderson needs anything else from me, and then I’ll hit the road. Put this whole quest behind me, much as the idea of giving up burns me.
When the session finally ends, with half a dozen wolves giving me annoyed glares for going too hard in what was supposed to be light sparring, I growl at anyone who looks at me sideways. This is a different Ethan to the smiling, happy-go-lucky guy they’re used to. Briefly, I wonder if this is what happened to Rex. Did he turn darker when he was rejected? But then I remember he was always a grumpy bastard, so there’s hope for me yet.
Tossing my towel over my shoulder, I’m brushing past a group huddled near the exit when a large hand shoots out and clamps down on my shoulder. Snarling, I turn to face Lucia’s two favourite henchmen. I’m barely hanging on to my temper, my wolf is itching for an excuse to start a fight.
“Lucia wants to show you something. Come with us.”
My fingers grasp the note in my pocket and I frown. This message is clearly important, but what if this is my chance to get some information from Lucia. It’s either that or I’m about to get my ass kicked?
“Let me go grab a shower.”
I’ll run by the alpha’s room quickly on my way. Maybe pick up my phone in case I get the chance to take some pictures. The answering sneer and fingers digging into my shoulder tell me that won’t be happening.
“No. We’re leaving right now.”
40
BELLE
Loud banging on the door rattles my brain inside my skull and I groan loudly, dragging a thin, lumpy blanket over my head and cursing.
“Get lost, Billy. I’ve only been asleep for five minutes.”
Billy was true to his word last night and came back an hour later; slinking in and not saying a word about where he’d been. Instead of that being the end of my shift, Leon emerged from the boardroom shortly after, his hoard of women dismissed, and the party really began. Daylight was streaming in through the windows when the last patrons were escorted out the doors, and I could finally drag myself up the stairs to bed.
Thankfully, by six o’clock in the morning when I got up here, there weren’t any guests being entertained in the room next door – but that didn’t mean I was able to sleep.
The bed is too empty; my thoughts, too loud. I miss him. Which is ridiculous when I barely know him, but I feel him, in my heart. I know what I’ve given up, potentially forever, in an attempt to help keep Ethan and his family safe.
I still think it was the right thing to do, but damn if it doesn’t hurt.
Rubbing the sleep from my swollen eyes, puffy from crying, I stretch and sit up. I must have passed out and at least gotten some rest.
Leon’s voice booms out from down the hall, “Open the fucking door!”
Scrambling to pull on some trousers, I hop over to the door and peer out, ducking back inside to yank a vest over my head.
“We've got guests coming. Get your ass downstairs and help clean up.”
Somehow, I’ve gone from the client to the hired help, except that I’m still the one paying him. He knows I’ve no choice but to do what he wants, and, with terrifying clarity, I realise I’m just another wolf he’s managed to get into his clutches. I’ve no phone, no way of getting off his territory unless I steal a vehicle, and no clue what Leon really has planned for me.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!”
Peeking out the bedroom window at the boarded-up house across the road, I pause. That’s the last place I want to end up. I need to play his game until I can find a way out. Worst case, I run for the rendezvous point and call Marcus’s brother to come and get me. Billy said there’s a phone buried there. But even if I did escape, I doubt Leon Lennox would let that be the end of it. He seems like the type to hold a grudge.
Turning away, I shove my boots on and lace them, quickly scrubbing my face with a wipe. A car door slams outside. Groggy and wishing I’d summoned the energy to have a shower last night, I stumble through the door.
Billy’s waiting, his expression grim. Leon’s gone to welcome the new arrivals.
“I don’t like this.”
Falling into step beside him, I grunt. I need coffee. Lots of it. “I don’t like this, either.” Isn’t there someone else who can do this? He has a whole clan to choose from.
