Chapter One
Present Day
Tessa slipped her headphones on and tapped the music app on her phone. The music that flooded into her ears was loud, and she slipped her phone into the back pocket of her jeans. She loved her job, but she knew she was the only one. No one worked at the Golden Goose because it paid well. Carla was a good boss and kept an eye out for the girls, but the clients were cheap and the thongs had as much substance as dental floss. At least I’m not one of the dancers. It was an upside. She might have been working there for two years, but she wasn’t any more comfortable with the idea of stripping for money. Carla had asked her once, and Tessa had nearly passed out. Waves of dread and sheer terror filled every part of her whenever she entertained the idea.
She closed her eyes and let the music wash over and through her as she breathed in deep. The stale smell of used cigarettes and sweating bodies made her wrinkle her nose, but she did her best to ignore it.
Time to get to work. For the next couple of hours Tessa collected discarded glasses and washed down the tables. When she’d first started the job, she had to call Henri on the hour, every hour, but she’d managed to get him down to the two-call ins, one in the middle of her shift and one at the end. She had a system, and calling in ate into her time. Her body settled into autopilot as she swayed to the classical music, never missing a beat or step. Unless they noticed her headphones it probably looked silly to anyone who saw her dancing to music only she could hear, but that didn’t matter when she was the only one working. There was no one who could see her twist and turn, hopping and skipping about. Even Carla was out since she’d finished her paperwork.
The doors were locked. Tessa had done that herself after she let the club’s bouncers out. There wasn’t any way anyone could get in unless she let them in. There was no real reason for her to be scared or worried, but while she’d become more comfortable working in the club by herself, it didn’t stop her inner voice filling her with doubt. It was four in the morning, and nobody was up now unless they were working in one of the nearby factories doing the twilight shift.
Tessa glanced at the radio she left on the bar counter. It wasn’t like she was completely alone. Henri was in the factory next door, manning the cameras placed up and down the streets and in corners around the block. He would rush to her aid if she needed him. That helped ease a lot of her worries and raised a few new ones. She flipped the cloth over her shoulder and perched on the edge of a newly cleaned table. The urge to call him, even if she didn’t need to, was tempting. He was a good guy, a little brusque, but the leader of a security business needed to be. Tessa liked him, and he was her only friend. Well, if she could call him that. She’d never gotten any inkling he liked her at all, but she did know that he made her laugh. The knowledge didn’t stop the way her heart beat a little bit faster whenever she heard his voice on the radio, or the way the hairs on the base of her neck stood on edge. She’d even seen him from a distance, after a man in the club had gotten into a fight with a bouncer and Henri had been called in to help. The only time she’d gotten to work early, she hadn’t introduced herself, but Carla had pointed him out. Dark red, almost black hair and powerfully built. Mesmerizing and sexy. A lethal cocktail in any one man.
She thought about him a lot before that moment, but when she finally knew what he looked like, her thoughts had turned much more explicit. At least with the music blasting in her ears the need for him didn’t override her common sense. How embarrassing would it be if she called him on the radio, asked him to come, and he said no? Tessa didn't make decisions with a libido as underused as hers. She’d done it once, the one time she’d been feeling brave, but it had been a lifetime ago. She still remembered how she’d wanted the ground to swallow her up after the man laughed
As a couple of tracks started and finished, Tessa finished the tables and positioning the chairs on top of them, freeing the floor. She hummed along with the next song as she retrieved the brush and started to the sweep the floor.
A sudden blur of movement caught her attention, and Tessa dropped the broom. The noise was muffled by the sound of music in her ears. She whipped her head around and bit back a scream at the sight of the man behind the bar. He had a hammer in his hand and a balaclava over his head. It was hard to tell, but he looked surprised, the hammer over his head, poised to hit the till.
The till was empty. Carla kept all the money in the safe in her office, but it looked like he didn’t know that. How the hell had he managed to get in? Where was Henri?
Tessa glanced between him and the radio. Why had she left it on the counter? She hadn’t needed it since she started to work there. The man followed her glance and noticed the radio. Tessa flinched as he swung down and smashed the radio. A few more hits and her lifeline was a bunch of wires and not much else. In the next moment, the man ripped his hood off. A cruel smile on a face she didn’t recognize, greeted her.
“What do we have here?”
****
Henri leaned back in his chair and watched the computer screens in front of him. The images changed every few minutes, showing him different areas of the industrial estate where his team worked. He rested his feet on the edge of the desk and drank from his takeout coffee cup. He’d started Tull’s Security a couple of years ago, and while most of the time they worked in places like this, he’d started to take jobs to help keep his restless pack under control. For a long time, he’d wanted to stay away from the more violent urges his kind usually dealt with, but that hadn’t been a good idea. He couldn’t pretend that people he called family were human, that they didn’t turn into wolves at a drop of a hat. But the factory work paid the bills, and bodyguard work was few and far between most days. David Parr, a member of his pack, was currently in Afghanistan working with an elite group of ex-military shifters. Henri didn’t ask many questions about what he did, though he knew it was good work.
The image on the screen changed to the outside of Golden Goose. It was an odd place to find a strip club. For one thing, it was in the middle of nowhere. There were the factories, but the last thing on most people’s minds after a long shift was the lure of naked bodies. The boss also liked to cut costs. The Golden Goose hadn’t had a regular night time security guard for months. The thought of Tessa, the night cleaner, being the only person there didn’t sit well with him. They’d never officially met except over the radio, but he had watched her on the screens. The resolution on the screen wasn’t great, but he got the impression of womanly curves and hair dark enough to be black.
She was a sweet girl.
He looked at his radio then at the clock and frowned. She should have called in by now. Ten minutes late. Tessa might sometimes get caught up in her job, but she usually called within five minutes either way. Henri kicked his feet against the table and stood before he clicked on the mouse until the image on the screen rested on the Golden Goose again. There didn’t look like there was anything out of place, but his wolf started to pace inside of him.
Something’s wrong.
Henri snatched up the radio, pressing the button on the side. “Tessa, you there?” Empty silence filled his ears. He picked up the other radio, the one he used for the factory. “I’m going to check on something. Stevie, can you come to the control center?”
“Do you need any back up?”
“Just keep an eye on the screen.” Henri growled. “It’ll probably end up being nothing, but I'll feel better if I check. I’ll be at the Golden Goose. If I’m not back in ten come look for me,” he added as he put the radio down and darted for the door.