Page 47 of His to Claim

CHAPTER8

Stone

Danger.

The moment I’d gotten off my bike, walking within thirty feet of her condominium building, I’d sensed Vanessa was in extreme danger. I stood at the window overlooking the road below, the cold beer not nearly strong enough at this point.

The text from Max had been disturbing, the news highlighting the murders as if there was another serial killer in town. Trevor Holland had evidently been more of a celebrity than I’d originally thought. Montenegro had to be gloating. It was only a matter of time before the pack members started asking questions. What hadn’t made the news was the attack on Vanessa since her name as the victim had yet to be released. Even that was only a matter of time.

I still had a taste of her sweet pussy on my lips and as I dragged my tongue across them, I reawakened my wolf, his hunger almost as insatiable as mine. I’d almost lost control with her, had felt the first moments of transformation. Struggling with regaining control had taken a hell of lot out of me.

I could also see the reflection of the weapon still on the coffee table. I had no doubt she was capable of protecting herself. However, she had no idea what was really going on. I wanted to tell her, but that wasn’t an option at this point. Even as my mate, she wasn’t ready to learn the truth. I snarled as I weighed the options.

Her pointed questions continued to bother me. I’d inadvertently exposed my true self to her. Given her tenacious as hell attitude, I knew she wasn’t going to let it go. At least I could be grateful that the wounds had almost totally healed. The steroids must be the reason.

I’d spent some time with Jonas, performing test after test on the samples I’d taken as well as my own blood. Early indications were fairly clear. On their own, the various elements weren’t dangerous to our kind, but combined in a certain way, they were capable of death. What struck me as odd was the time it must have taken in order to perfect the formula. Who did that? I’d left Jonas with performing the last experiments, an attempt to find anything that would counteract the poison. I knew the test results would likely come back later in the day. At this point, I wasn’t certain what to expect but I wasn’t hopeful for any kind of easy cure.

While I understood Vanessa’s need for privacy, the fact she’d refused to tell me even a simple lie about why she’d chucked her former life raised far too many red flags. It had been easy to find details about her professional world, but her personal life remained a huge abyss. There’d been no smoking guns about why she’d leave her position, including some concept of going undercover. I only knew that whatever she was hiding had put her in harm’s way.

What in the hell correlation did it have to the two Wolfen who were murdered?

I’d risked far too much being with her. Now I had no doubt about what Max had told me regarding a true mate. Every synapse and cell was on fire, my heart beating as fast as when I was in my wolf state.

I exhaled, hearing the continued rattling in my chest. My body had even begun the knotting process. My cock was still swollen and overly sensitive. As my grip on the bottle became almost crushing, she inched closer.

I felt her presence behind me, the subtleness of her exotic perfume driving my cock to a full erection. I gathered a hint of her reflection in the window, her long hair still tangled from our late morning tryst.

While I’d yet to be able to read her thoughts, I didn’t need the ability to know she remained on edge.

“I’m working for the Montenegro Corporation and please don’t ask me why. I’m completely aware of their less than stellar reputation but I have my reasons.” She inched closer, the tone of her voice riddled with exasperation.

I instantly bristled. I was aware of the lengths they’d go to in order to close a deal. What the fuck was she doing working for them? When I remained quiet, she brushed hair behind her ear, taking a deep breath.

“Why are you telling me this now?” I asked, hearing the contempt in my voice.

“Because if you really do have friends in the police department, I’m certain they’re going to tell you eventually. They certainly looked into my past, including the fact I was a prosecuting attorney in Baltimore.”

“And now?”

She sighed. “Chris Montenegro recently promoted me to vice president.”

“You are aware that he’s been under investigation for several serious crimes including extortion?”

“I’m aware. I’m no fool, Stone. I actually know what I’m doing.”

I shook my head, doing everything I could not to challenge her. She would always be rebellious, much more so than I’d anticipated. “An interesting change.”

“I honestly wasn’t planning on working at the company, merely investigating them for a few weeks, hoping to find certain… truths. An opportunity just came up out of the blue and I took a chance, trying to get as close to the snake as possible. Anyway, I’m not planning on being in town very long and I don’t want to hurt you again. That’s the reason I tried to push you away.”

“I’m a big boy, Vanessa. I can certainly take care of myself. Besides, we aren’t even friends.” I regretted the caustic words as soon as I’d said them. I clenched my fist as several seconds passed by.

“I deserved that. I do care about you, Stone. I find myself more attracted to you than when we were in college, but I’m here for a single reason. At some point, I plan on returning to Baltimore, trying to get my job back. I love being an attorney. Maybe I’m twisted, but when I win a case, I feel damn good about ridding the world of scum. I worked hard to get where I was and I don’t plan on losing it.”

“Then why the hell are you here?” I demanded.

“Being in Denver is just something I have to do, a plan I’ve had in motion for a long time. I don’t know why those men were in the bar last night, but I suspect it’s because…”

I slowly turned to face her. “Because why, Vanessa?”

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