Chapter Three
Hunter, Daniel and Gergo stood in formation behind Andras and Kristof. They all waited in the lobby for the Vampires’ arrival. Forty-five minutes prior, Andras had received a call that the Vampires were on their way and would arrive shortly. Apparently, the Vamps didn’t know what the word shortly meant.
“I think they’re keeping us waiting on purpose,” Kristof said. “Maybe you should negotiate another discount for the waste of our time? Something tells me this won’t be the first time they make us play the waiting game.”
“I got lucky that they readily agreed to a discount already. I’m not going to push it,” Andras replied. Then he said over his shoulder, “Hunter, did you have any problems with getting everyone out of the building?”
“None at all. Most everyone seemed more than happy to leave well before the Vamps came a-calling.”
After he’d returned from his failed attempt to follow Erzsebet, it was to find the other employees packing up for the evening. Some of the younger Shifters had tried to linger—they’d never seen Vampires before and wanted to catch a glimpse of the guests. Excitement was in the air.
If only they knew, Hunter had thought to himself.
Instead of being intrigued by the Vamps, it would’ve been better if the younger Shifters remembered the Vamps for exactly what they were—dangerous predators. Normally, the Vamps didn’t see the Wolf-Shifters as a food source—the den that had attacked his family had been outside that norm. It still didn’t stop Hunter from throwing them all in the same boat. He hated every last one of them.
He hated that they relied on others as a food source.
He hated that the Vamps thought they were better than anything else that walked the earth.
And most of all, he hated their paranormal abilities. They could do things to an unsuspecting mind.
They had the ability to enthrall anyone by planting thoughts and taking control of a person. Wolf-Shifters could push their thoughts onto humans, but the powers that the Vamps had were very different. What Shifters did was considered persuasion. The Vampires manipulated the brain. They could make their victim think they were jumping into a pile of leaves when in fact they were jumping off a twenty-story building to their death. The Vampires could also make their victim move, say or do anything that the Vamp wanted, making the victim a puppet.
No one was immune to their enthrallment—it didn’t matter if they were human or paranormal and, because of that, Andras didn’t want any problems. Even though enthralling any Dark Wolf Enterprises employee was forbidden, per the contract, Andras hadn’t wanted to take chances since the Vampires clearly had a problem with following the contract. After the initial meeting, the Vamps wouldn’t have regular contact with any other staff but Hunter, Gergo and Daniel.
“Good,” Andras said. “I really want this to go as smoothly as possible.”
“Me too,” Kristof added.
“How is Trudy holding up?” Andras asked Kristof.
“You know Trudy, she’s tough as nails. She doesn’t want to condemn an entire species because of the act of one. She’s says there are bad apples in all species.”
When Andras and Kristof hadn’t been able to find or stop the embezzlement, they had hired Trudy’s accounting firm, Hollander Accounting. The ring leader who they’d found out later was a Vampire had disclosed that he was taking money because he wanted revenge on the Farkas brothers. The Vampire had hired a Russian Shifter Pack to attack Trudy in order to throw Andras on the wrong trail. But when the Vampire had found out that Trudy was life-mated to Kristof he had intended to torture and kill Trudy to cripple Kristof and the Pack.
Trudy had been trapped in a warehouse with the Vampire and about to die a painful death, but Kristof and Hunter had saved her just in the nick of time. Hunter and Kristof had both thought they had recognized the Vampire’s scent but neither had been able to place where or how they knew the Vampire.
After her ordeal with the Vampire, Kristof had expected Trudy to be scared of them, but surprisingly so far, Trudy hadn’t let on that the Vampires being in Marquette bothered her.
Kristof looked at his watch. “I want this meeting over as soon as possible. I have a mate to get home to.”
“Whipped already,” Andras murmured.
Kristof didn’t turn to his Alpha but growled low in his throat.
While Hunter found the brotherly exchange funny, he also knew that the Alpha was the only one who could talk to Kristof like that and Kristof was the only one who could growl at the Alpha. Brothers—siblings—had a bond that went deeper than Pack.
A pang of guilt settled in Hunter’s heart. At first, he’d been so relieved when Erzsebet had stopped bugging him. Now, he missed her company. Why had he wanted to push her away in the first place? Space? God knows it wasn’t because of a woman. Hunter hadn’t taken a woman to his bed in a long time and it’d been even longer than that since he’d been on any kind of a date.
Off in the distance the metal security gates opened and tires crunched on the gravel road. Car.
“Heads up. They’re on their way,” Hunter said, although he was sure the others heard the approaching vehicle, as well.
Outside, the car came to a complete stop in front of the entrance. The first Vampire to enter through the sliding doors was tall and pale, with a large bulky build. He appeared to be the body-building type and, since Vamps had no use for a weight training regimen, Hunter guessed that he’d acquired his build well before his change. Hunter had a hard time pulling his eyes from him. On top of being able to enthrall their victims, Vampires had the gift of allure. When they entered the room, all eyes were drawn to their beauty. Everything about their make-up was meant to attract prey.
Hunter’s wolf stirred in the background. He remembered their first encounter with the Vamps and it had not been a good memory. Just to prove to himself that he could look away, he did just that.
The Vamp didn’t extend a greeting but glanced right and left then sniffed at the air. He peered at Andras and Kristof before turning slightly to motion outside the door. He then moved over to stand to one side and folded his arms.
Then came a red-headed female who could’ve been mistaken for a college kid and, after her, a much younger-looking Vampire with light-blonde hair. An older Vampire, appearing to be in his mid-fifties, came next.
“Their master?” Kristof asked.
“It’s always the nerdy-looking ones,” Andras said.
“I would bet on it,” Hunter replied.
The last Vamp was another bulky male who was a carbon copy of the first. Hunter guessed the two bigger Vamps were the bodyguards. While the other three were dressed in business suits, the twins wore matching black jeans and T-shirts. One overly muscled Vamp made his skin crawl, an identical pair made him and his wolf uneasy.
The automatic doors began to close.
“Welcome to Dark Wolf Enterprises,” Andras announced.
The doors reversed on their tracks, opening again. Another Vampire—Hunter sniffed at the air—no, not Vampire. She didn’t have the same floral scent as the others. Human.
Hunter hadn’t expected them to bring their food source to the company and from the telepathic cursing that Andras sent his way, neither had he.
“What is she doing here?” Andras pushed the thought to Hunter.
The air instantly thickened as the Shifters watched the female. The human wasn’t beautiful, not like the Vampires, but she was pretty. And while she didn’t have an intoxicating aroma, she smelled…nice. Her skin wasn’t the pale-ashen one of a Vampire’s, either. Her brown hue radiated with life and energy. Another dead giveaway that she was human? Her beating heart and shallow breathing. The Vampires had neither.
“I pray that she’s an accountant. I’m not watching them drink from her,” Hunter said.
He’d run into plenty of Vampire junkies before and this woman didn’t strike him as the type who would lust after a blood-sucker. While she wasn’t dressed in a business suit like the others, she still looked professional. Her dark hair fell smoothly past her shoulders. She wore it styled in a blunt cut—sharp bangs and sharp ends. She had on a cream, low-cut silk blouse that showed a hint of cleavage. His eyes were immediately drawn to her round and perky breasts. Accentuating her long and shapely legs was a dark blue pencil skirt that went to her knees and the matching blue heels.
“Trudy will freak if she finds out that we’re letting them feed here. Didn’t we forbid this in the contract?” Kristof asked.
While the others arranged themselves in a line, the human did as well, but positioned herself one step behind the Vampires. Her placement told him everything. She was part of the group, but not really.
Hunter’s wolf had lingered at the front, ready to come forth and fight if needed. But this time, instead of growling in the back of his mind and being on edge, his wolf was having a different reaction.
Curiosity.
Hunter could picture the wolf’s nose sniffing and poking at the barrier that separated man from beast, trying to find out more about the human who stood by the Vampires. Odd, since his wolf had never been interested in a human before. Whenever Hunter had taken one to bed, the wolf showed his indifference by sleeping.
Hunter didn’t try to push back, he let his wolf satisfy his curiosity and afterward he would focus his attention on the Vampires where it should be.
“Forgive us,” Andras said. “We weren’t expecting your…assistant to join you this evening. Our contract is very clear regarding this matter.”
The woman met Andras’ eyes. “I have a master’s degree in IT and accounting,” she replied. “When you hired us, you hired me, as well. Is there an issue here?”
Andras didn’t respond, but power radiated around him at the challenge.
Hunter stepped forward. Pretty or not, the woman wouldn’t disrespect his Alpha.
“Stop,” Andras commanded.
“But she—”
“It’s a power play. The Vampires don’t allow their humans to do their talking. They want us to hurt her.”
“What? Why?”
“Because they are sadistic fucks,” Kristoff said.
The Vampires stared boldly at the Shifters, waiting to see what would happen next.
“No problem at all.” Andras walked over to the woman and extended his hand. The scene that the Vampires had hoped for wouldn’t happen. Hunter and Kristof followed him while Gergo and Daniel stood their ground. “Welcome to Dark Wolf Enterprises. I’m Andras Farkas, CEO.”
The woman took his hand. “Asha. Thank you for having us.”
Asha, Hunter repeated her name in his head.
“Your team comes highly recommended. The choice was obvious.” He released her hand.
Asha let out an almost unnoticeable sigh of relief. She swept her arm to one side. “Please let me introduce you to the head of our house.”
Andras blinked in surprise when the Vampire who stepped forward wasn’t the oldest male, but the blonde girl who resembled a prepubescent teenager. Hunter mentally kicked himself as he was sure Andras and Kristof were doing the same. Never underestimate a Vampire.
“Thank you for contracting our business, Mr. Farkas. I am Clarissa.” She shook Andras’ hand.
Her voice sounded like a lyrical flute. Hunter’s ears twitched at the sound of it. While humans found the sound whimsical, Wolf-Shifters didn’t appreciate the high-pitched tone. It grated on his nerves.
Clarissa released Andras’ hand and waved to the others. “My other colleagues, Francisco and Angelica, and our bodyguards are Rocko and Ricko.” The twins each gave a not-so-nice smile. An intimidation tactic that Hunter ignored.
His focus was on Asha.
She had faded behind the others and lowered her eyes. Her momentary boldness was now gone.
His wolf sent him a picture of the human, looking at them, but she had hollowed out eyes.
“I know. It’s too bad that she’s their puppet,” he responded to his wolf.
Like all Shifters, the man and beast were separate entities merged into one. While Hunter was in the forefront, the wolf was awake and lucid, aware of everything that went on around him. But instead of being in control he was more of a passenger in a car. The wolf could communicate using pictures, making suggestions on their course of action, but Hunter had all of the control. And when the wolf was in the front, Hunter was just a bystander, letting the wolf take the reins. Hunter could still communicate with the wolf, as well as his other Pack members just fine.
If she isn’t a Vampire junkie, then why is she with them? Hunter inwardly shook his head. It was common knowledge in the paranormal world that Vampires often told lies to naïve humans—for their unwavering service, the human would be made into a Vampire. The lie was told to fool Vampire groupies everywhere. When her novelty wore off, the Vamps would kill her.
Shame.
“Nice to meet you all.” Andras turned just enough to indicate who he was referring to without completely giving his back to the Vampires. “This is my brother Kristof. He is the CFO and will make himself available via phone for any questions and concerns that you may have. And this is Hunter, the acting head of security, and his team members Gergo and Daniel.”
As Andras introduced all the Shifters, the Vampires took note by making eye contact with everyone. Hunter’s wolf growled at the obvious sign of a challenge. He could feel the others’ wolves pushing forward, ready to shift.
“Calm.” It was the Alpha that had made the command over the Pack bond.
Hunter’s wolf immediately submitted.
“Shall we get started then?” Clarissa asked, oblivious to the electrical power of an impending shift circulating in the air.
If she’d known that looking the wolves directly in the eyes would garner a negative response, she didn’t show it. It seemed that Andras would have to talk to the Vampires about proper wolf etiquette if he didn’t want a fight breaking out.
“Follow us,” Andras said.
Andras and Kristof led the group to the accounting wing while Hunter, Gergo and Daniel brought up the rear. Andras showed the group to one of the large conference rooms where computers and printers had been set up specifically for their use. The conference room had ample lighting as well as plenty of windows so the Vamps wouldn’t feel trapped, as per their request.
“Myself and Kristof will retire for the evening, but the others will remain outside the doors and at your disposal.”
While Clarissa stood at the door and glanced around the room, the others waited behind her.
When none of the Vamps made a move to enter, Kristof cleared his throat. “Are the accommodations satisfactory?” he asked.
“Yes, this will do,” Clarissa finally said.
At her confirmation, the others filed inside. It was clear that she was the boss and their sire. The other two Vampire accountants and the human took the empty seats in front of the computer monitors and the twins dragged chairs from the conference table and positioned them on either side of inside the door.
Clarissa looked at Andras. “We will work until two hours before sunup and return an hour after sundown. As per our contract, we will keep you updated on any information that we find. Updates will be delivered by Asha, to you only, via hand, in a sealed envelope.”
“Thank you very much. I appreciate your confidence in this matter.”
Clarissa gave a slight nod. She then went to the last empty workstation and turned on her computer.
Andras, Kristof and Hunter left the room, keeping the door ajar behind them. Gergo and Daniel had already found comfortable seating in view of the conference room door.
“Call me if you need anything,” Andras said to Hunter. “Otherwise, I’ll trust that everything is running smoothly.”
“I’m sure everything will be fine.”
“Very well then,” Kristof said. “I have a mate to get home to.”
Andras chuckled. “Yes, yes, we know. You’ve told us before.”
Kristof smiled in return. Before he’d mated it was a sight that Hunter rarely saw. “You should only be so lucky.”
An emotion that Hunter couldn’t pin down flashed behind Andras’ eyes, then it was gone just as quickly as it had come. “I like my space. Besides, I see what mating has done to you and Lajos, and I want no part of it.”
As they walked away, Hunter eased himself into a seat outside the conference room. He adjusted his chair so that he could keep one visitor in particular in his line of sight. The human, Asha.
Asha didn’t know why the Wolf-Shifter chose to sit exactly where he had, even adjusting his chair so that he could watch her. She was not a threat—at all. If he knew what was good for him he’d move his chair a little to the right and readjust his angle to focus on Clarissa.
Clarissa liked to play the innocent card and she played it well, mainly because she looked the part, but in reality, she could be just as cold-hearted and vicious as the rest of the Vampires. But she was the only mother figure that Asha had.
Asha tried her best to push the Wolf-Shifter from her mind and concentrate on her work. She followed the Internet link that she’d been given earlier and when she got to an encrypted log-in, she entered the eleven-digit passcode that allowed her access into Dark Wolf Enterprises’ secure employee database. While the others were tasked with rooting out and shutting down the bogus accounts the embezzler had set up to siphon money from the company, Asha had a different job. She was to track the private bank accounts of all the employees, starting with the accounting staff then the Information Technology department. Andras and Kristof thought that one of their employees was helping a Vampire embezzle from their company.
Asha took note of the list that she’d been given. The accounting staffs’ names were listed in numerical order. Hunter’s name wasn’t on that short list—she hadn’t expected it to be. She turned the pages until she came across the listing of the security team. Dark Wolf Enterprises had fifty-odd employees and the security team was listed at the end, right before the company higher-ups. It gave credence to the fact that the CEO didn’t believe the embezzler was anyone from that team.
In the time that she’d been working for Clarissa, she’d seen it all. By the time people got around to hiring the Vampires they were usually at their last-ditch effort, which meant all the possible suspects had already been rooted out. When Asha came in, she found that the suspect was always someone least expected.
She read Hunter’s full name, Hunter Arany. She peeked over the computer monitor to where he sat. His eyes were on her—deep brown with a hint of gold. She could get used to looking into eyes like his.
While she’d never met a Wolf-Shifter, from the little she’d found out before making the trip, she knew they had dual personalities—one human and a wolf counterpart. Shifters weren’t the same as Skin Walkers or Lycans. Skin Walkers needed the pelt of the animal they intended to shift into, and even then they would remain themselves. And Lycans turned into animals at the height of the full moon.
From what she understood, human and animal co-existed, switching between the two at will.
Confusing. Yet unique and interesting.
Just like the man sitting in front of her.
He was handsome, that was the first thing that struck her, and rugged. He had on dark slacks and a fitted T-shirt, but she could picture him in jeans, white T-shirt, cowboy boots and hat easily. His dark hair fell just past his ears, as if he’d missed a barber’s appointment, and he had a shadow of a beard and mustache, telling that he’d also missed a shave or two. But it was his piercing eyes that held her attention. It seemed as though they bored straight into her soul, hunting for her deepest and darkest secrets.
And if she wasn’t careful, she would tell him all that he sought.
Her heart skipped a beat.
The sound of a chair creaking caught her attention. She didn’t need to look over to see that it was Clarissa. Asha lowered her eyes to the computer monitor and typed in the first name on the list—Jani Hussani.
The slight sound served as a warning. Vampires didn’t have human tendencies and no need to adjust in their seat. She’d seen them hold the same position for an entire night, only moving to finally crawl into their coffins. Panic tried to invade her heart, but she fought it. She’d learned a long time ago to control her reactions when she was in the vicinity of the Vampires. They were predators. If her heart rate increased, they would pick up on it in an instant. Then…
She swallowed the lump forming in her throat and focused on the information that came up on the screen. It was best to forget about the Vampires and the Shifters and concentrate on her task. As if to serve a reminder of the last time she’d shown fear and weakness in Clarissa’s presence, the old puncture marks on her groin began to throb.
Get back to work, Asha.
“Yes, get back to work, Asha.”
Asha’s fingers stilled on the keyboard at the intrusion on her thoughts. “Yes, Clarissa.”