Chapter Seven
By the time the driver pulled up to Dark Wolf Enterprises, Ash was good and angry. She was already going to tell Hunter to keep his distance from her. She didn’t need any more of his help. But when she’d left the house this afternoon she’d seen distinct wolf tracks in the mud in the yard. It could’ve been a stray dog, but seeing how any other occupied houses were at least five miles off, she doubted the tracks were from a stray and she doubted a dog had paws as big as the ones left around the house.
He was going to get her killed.
Ash had spent a half hour going around the property, using a shovel that she’d found in the garage, smoothing out all the tracks she’d found. She was so dirty that she’d had to take another shower. Now, she was an hour late for work. Clarissa may be asleep but somehow, she would find out about her lateness. And Ash would be punished, yet again.
When the driver opened the car door, Ash got out, refusing the hand he offered to her. Clarissa was used to being catered to. Ash was not. At the front door, Gergo came to greet her.
“Good afternoon, do you need to see Andras first or go to the conference room?”
She had other pressing matters at hand. “I need to see Hunter.”
Gergo raised an eyebrow. “Hunter is indisposed at this moment.”
“I need to talk to him, now. Can you let him know that I require his presence and to meet me in the conference room?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but he’s in his office and doesn’t want to be disturbed. Is there anything I can help you with?”
He doesn’t want to be disturbed? Too bad. While she’d made the mistake of daydreaming about him, he’d also been in the wrong for butting into her business. She hadn’t asked for his help. All had been fine. She’d had her punishment. But no, the big, bad wolf had just had to challenge Clarissa and, because of him, she still had knots in her leg muscles and her shoulders burned with pain.
“This is between me and Hunter.”
Gergo’s eyes shifted to the right. “Um, he told me to watch over you until the Vampires came and then he would join us. Maybe you can talk to him then?”
She followed his gaze and saw the Security Office sign. “What I have to talk to him about is between him and me.”
Ash veered in the direction of the security office.
“Hey, I told you that he didn’t want to be disturbed,” Gergo said, coming up behind her.
Ash glared at Gergo and knocked on the office door. “And I told you that I’m talking to him now.”
“What is it?” Hunter grumbled from the other side.
“It’s Ash. I need to talk to you.”
“Come in.”
Gergo raised his hands and left her.
Ash pushed open the door and found Hunter sitting at a desk with a multitude of small television screens on the wall in front of him. All had a different area of the building on them.
“You almost got me killed,” she announced.
He turned away from one of the screens he watched to frown at her. “Huh?”
“Stepping between me and Clarissa yesterday then leaving paw prints all over the property. I know it was you.”
He leaned back in his chair and watched her. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. And you shouldn’t be upset that I stopped a mad Vampire from breaking the rest of your fingers.”
Ash narrowed her eyes. “You don’t understand how Vampires work,” she bit out.
“I know plenty, which is why you shouldn’t be anywhere near them. You’re human.”
She lifted her chin. “I can handle myself.”
He glanced at her injured hand. “Right.”
She stabbed the air with her finger. “You think you know everything, but you don’t. No one is making me stay with them. I’m with them because I want to—”
“Be one of them.”
She could feel her temperature rising. “And what’s so bad about that?”
“Nothing if you enjoy feeding off blood.”
“It’s a necessity.”
Hunter got up and crossed the short distance between them. He put a hand on the side of her head and tilted it to view her neck. “No bite marks.” He sounded surprised.
She pulled out of his grasp and stepped away until her back hit the door. “They don’t bite me there.” She knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as the words left her lips.
He stepped up to her. Their bodies were almost touching. “Where do they bite you, Ash?” he asked in a low voice.
She couldn’t find the words to say anything. He smelled so good—outdoorsy and fresh. She breathed in deeper, filling her lungs with the scent of man.
He lifted her hand and turned over her wrist. “Do they bite you here?”
She didn’t like to be touched. She hated it. But she welcomed his hands on her skin. She wanted him to touch her more. “S-sometimes.”
He ran his fingers up to the soft side of her elbow. Heat erupted on her skin in their wake.
“How about here?”
She shook her head and her messenger bag dropped from her hand.
He went to her hip and she inhaled a sharp breath at the tingling sensation that he caused.
He used his hand to travel down her hip and stopped at the juncture of her groin. “Here?”
“Y-yes.”
“You have to hand it to them,” he said, his voice deep and raspy. “They know where the liquid is…sweetest.”
Air caught in her throat.
Hunter leaned down and captured her mouth with his. The prickly hairs on his upper lip and chin grazed across her face. He was all man, yet feral and predatory at the same time. He used his tongue to part her lips and delved inside. She was hesitant at first, unsure what to do or how to kiss him. But it didn’t take long before instinct took over and she explored his mouth just as much as he did hers and met his tongue with the same ferocity he displayed.
He reached around and palmed her butt, squeezing and kneading her onto him. His hardness was against her belly in the most delightful way. He gripped and lifted her off her feet. Using the door to steady her, Hunter urged her to wrap her legs around his waist.
With their mouths locked together, he walked her over to the table and sat her on the edge. She didn’t care about the compromising position. All that mattered was how his muscles felt under her hands. She explored him, caressing his face, neck, arms and back. She wanted more. She longed for him.
He pressed his hips between her legs and she shuddered. Only the thin barrier of her panties separated his cock from her. Little moans escaped her mouth as he moved, grinding on her clit. She let her hands roam across his lower back, urging him on. With fervor, he kissed her, and deep moans came from his throat. Her stomach knotted at hearing his pleasure in her ears.
Creak.
“What the hell?”
Hunter pulled away from her. “Andras. We…I…um.”
Oh, my God. What the hell am I doing?
Ash slid to her feet and held her head down. If Clarissa was angry that Hunter had spoken up for her, she would drain her dry for this. Ash rushed forward and picked up her bag. She maneuvered around Andras to get out of the room. “Excuse me. I have to get back to work.”
She felt Andras’ eyes on her as she scurried down the hallway.
“Hunter. Really?” Andras said. In his voice wasn’t anger, but surprise.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I wanted to stay away from her tonight. She wasn’t even supposed to be in here. She was supposed to be with Gergo.” Hunter thrust his hand through his hair and dropped into his seat. “Whenever I’m around her, I can’t think straight.”
“Should I pull you off this assignment, then? I don’t need any trouble with the Vampires. They’re making progress on this case and we need them.”
Hunter dropped his head into his hands. His Alpha was counting on him and he was acting like a pup trying to rut with a female for the first time. What the hell was coming over him? “No, no. I have it. It won’t happen again.”
“And what does your wolf have to say about that? Is he in agreement?”
Hunter looked up at Andras, meeting his eyes. He wasn’t going to lie to his Alpha. “My wolf wants to knock you down and run after her.”