Chapter 7
Rex
I thought she would be back by now. It has been three days since I mated with Nicky, and three days since she ran back to her converted warehouse to hide from me.
“Do you think it was wise to let your mate leave, sir?” Fescue asks the question as he pours my coffee. Usually I appreciate his input, but this is not one of those times.
“She has to come to me of her own accord. That’s what submission is,” I tell him, scrolling through the news app on my phone.
There’s a lot of foreign movement at the moment.
Markets are volatile and they need my attention.
Unfortunately I am unable to give them much of it, because a certain she-wolf is occupying most of my mind.
“I did not meet the young lady directly, but she did not strike me as overly submissive, sir. It is possible it is not in her nature, and waiting for it will more than likely end in tears.”
I look up at Fescue. “Is there any part of my life you do not feel inclined to comment on?”
His expression closes. I have offended him, and I know it. But I do not want to hear how to handle my mate. Especially not right as I am wondering if I handled my mate badly.
I close my eyes for a moment and think about going and claiming her right in the middle of the warehouse. I would put money on her having gone right back to work. That is how we both operate. It is one thing we have in common past the obvious.
No.
I will not go back and claim her the same way twice.
That is not the way to take command of this sassy little female who already owes me her body and her future.
We are bound, and she will have to come to her senses on that.
I have done all that is necessary. All I have to do now is sit back and wait until her instincts drive her to me.
* * *
Nicky
It’s been a few days. I’ve been waiting for my full sanity to return. So far, it doesn’t feel like that is going to happen. I am unsettled all the time. I feel restless. I find myself pacing for no reason. My mind drifts off into nowhere whenever I’m not actively focused on something.
My virginity is gone, and so is my peace of mind, but I’m not going to freak out about it. I tell myself that sleeping with a guy who kidnapped me is a mistake that a lot of women make. I read about it in books all the time.
I just have to get back to work. I mean, I already did that, but I have to get even more back to work. I have to get back to work so hard that maybe I never stop working ever again. That seems like a fix for all of my problems.
So that’s what I do. The Runaways are a little unsettled, but that’s to be expected.
Having someone like Rex Regent trying to acquire us and bring us into his pack is stressful.
Some of the pack members are intrigued. The concept of being part of something more legitimate is interesting to them.
But they’ve been burned by those same kinds of pack before, so nobody is running directly for the Regent pack.
We all know what would become of us there; we’d be bottom of the hierarchy.
Probably be bullied. I don’t let that shit happen in the Runaways.
I make sure everyone is treated well by their pack mates, no matter how weird they might be.
Nobody is better than anyone else. After all, we’re all outcasts for a reason.
“Are you okay, boss?” Laura checks in on me in the afternoon. She looks a little worried.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Rex Regent isn’t going to ruin everything we’re working for just because he showed up.”
“But you slept with him?”
Oh, god. She’s bringing this up again. She knows what happened. We’ve been over it a thousand times. I don’t know why she won’t leave this alone when she can clearly tell I do not want to talk about it.
“Yeah. And?”
“Doesn’t that make you the alpha’s mate?”
“You think I’m the first woman he’s ever fucked?”
She grins and shakes her head with a slightly embarrassed giggle. “I guess not.”
“Right, so there’s probably dozens of women out there who have as much or more claim to being his mate,” I remind her.
“What if you’re his fated mate, though?”
“I’m not,” I say flatly. “Where are we at on the Williams account?”
* * *
More days pass. I throw myself into work even harder.
Suffice to say, we don’t sign the deal with Regent.
That was always bait anyway. The most transparent effort to try to gain control of us.
I let the gambit happen because I wanted to know my enemy.
I just didn’t know how well I’d end up knowing him.
I stay up late. I get up early. I feel wired in a very specific way that seems to be growing over time, though I try to push it to the side and forget because the very last thing I want is to let Rex take over my mind while he’s trying to take over my business.
But I’m human. Mostly. And I don’t know how to forget what happened to me, how it felt to have Rex Regent knot inside me, fill me with his cum and leave me dripping. The man dominated me so entirely I don’t think I’ll ever be able to erase the feeling of him inside me.
“Boss?” Cal interrupts me. I’d be irritated, but I find I don’t mind because I know he’s at least not going to talk about anybody being someone’s fated mate.
“Yeah?”
“A couple of the delivery guys went missing.”
I turn to look at him. “What do you mean, missing?”
“They went out to do some, uh, deliveries, and their phones are dead and they haven’t been back to see anyone for like, two days.”
“Do we usually not notice when Runaways go missing for two days?”
He shrugs. “Everyone here does what they want. We don’t keep tabs outside the obvious.”
I don’t know why I’m asking him. He’s not the one who set the policy. I am. I feel a stab of guilt at the idea I could be missing two people and not even know.
“Send the boys to go find them,” I say. “We can’t lose pack members.”
“I’ll let them know. Tech boy can probably trace where they were from their phones.”
“Let me know,” I tell him. I have paperwork to do. There are brand deals coming in left and right at the moment. The Runaways are on the verge of becoming a real force in the market.
“Will do,” he says. “Uh, boss?”
“Yes?”
“Are you going to have lunch today?”
“I might. Why?”
“Because I noticed you hadn’t had breakfast. And you didn’t yesterday either, and you didn’t eat lunch yesterday either.”
“You don’t have to monitor my food intake,” I tell him. “I’m good. I promise.”
“Sure, but, you know. The whole thing with the losing the V card? And then what happens after that?”
“Will you stop talking about this if I let you order me some nachos and a milkshake?”
“Yeah,” he smiles.
* * *
By the end of the day, there’s a warm milkshake on my desk, and some congealed nachos attracting flies, but I’ve gotten a lot done. Our delivery boys are still missing, and the guards haven’t been able to find them. It’s a worry.
“They might have decided to go on a bender. They might be sleeping something off somewhere,” Tom says. “Caden and Ralph are kind of like that, that’s why we keep them on deliveries. Can’t trust them with guns.”
“Can’t trust you with guns either,” I quip.
He grins, knowing it’s a joke.
There’s not much we can do about those two missing right now. We don’t keep tabs on the pack. We don’t force people to check in. Maybe we should.
* * *
From then on, our pack starts to dwindle. People start disappearing off the street. One, sometimes two or three at a time, people who should be back at the loft, or at work, or running errands just stop getting back to us.
The Runaways are fifty members strong, but right now we are at forty-one. Nine of us are missing. Five men, four women. Some of them are barely kids, at eighteen.
Work has to take a back seat to this. I call a meeting of the entire pack at Laura’s loft, and we talk about what to do. Last time we were here it was footsie pajamas and cocktails. The vibe is very different this time around.
“It’s those Regent fucks,” Carl says. He’s the oldest among us, almost thirty. He has tattoos up and down both arms, designed to look like machines. They’re cool. He’s cool. And he’s worried.
I suspect he’s right. We’ve never had anyone go missing before, and now that Rex Regent is involved, we suddenly can’t keep track of our people?
We have a lot of irons in the fire. What started as a social media account has turned into a lifestyle brand.
We sell merch, clothing, stickers. We’re thinking about a line of protein supplements.
There’s more to do than any of us can do, and losing people in the field is a bad fucking thing practically as well as personally.
“Alright. From now on, everybody has location tracking on their phone, nobody goes out in a group of less than three, and I want every threesome to be wearing glasses that stream to the cloud. Am I understood? If you’re taken, we want to know how and by who.”
There’s a general rustle of unrest. I know why. Everyone currently in this room thinks it would never happen to them because unlike the people who did get taken, everyone here thinks they’re smarter, faster, better, more dangerous.
“I mean it,” I say. “Anyone who doesn’t follow those rules is going to be grounded.”
An actual laugh goes up this time. They know I don’t mean that.
The idea of me grounding anyone is laughable.
I don’t have authority in this pack because I throw my weight around and punish people.
I have my authority for other, darker reasons nobody really wants to think about.
Lineage matters even in messy bands like this one.
“Fine,” I smirk. “Not grounded, but fucking seriously, you dicks. Stay together and stay safe. We don’t know what’s going on out there.”
* * *
The next morning, I call those Regent fucks.
The phone is answered by a smooth, smug voice who pretends not to know who I am.
I know they know. There is no way the story of their alpha mating with the leader of a rebel band of wolves hasn’t become top gossip.
They might think they’re sophisticated, but people are people.
“I need to speak to Rex Regent,” I say. “My name is Nicky Love.”
“Would you like to schedule a meeting with Mr. Regent?”
“Tell him Nicky Love said to let my people go.”
The line clicks.
The next voice I hear belongs to Rex. My heart skips a beat and my stomach drops and does a barrel roll. I hate that such limited contact from him has such a profound effect on me.
“Very biblical of you, Miss Love,” the voice on the phone drawls. “But I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you do. You’re kidnapping our pack members and stashing them away somewhere because I haven’t agreed to be your perfect little mate. This won’t work. I can’t be blackmailed.”
“Sweetheart, I’m sure you can’t, but I’m not kidnapping your little pack. Each and every one of them is more trouble than the last, and frankly we don’t have enough cages.”
I’m not alone on the call. I have Laura and a few of the guys in with me. I didn’t want to talk to him alone. I’m afraid, if I’m to be honest, that he will somehow talk me into going back to him. There’s a magnetism in him that I can feel even now at a distance.
I try to cover the mic while I relay his words. I don’t know why. He’s on speakerphone and I have a mute button. But in the stress of the moment, I forget how to use it.
“He’s being an asshole, but I don’t think he’s been taking people.”
“It is possible that you’ve annoyed someone besides me, darling,” he drawls. “Why don’t you come to dinner and we’ll discuss it.”
“I’m not coming back to you.”
There’s a brief pause, and I find myself holding my breath because I know he’s not done with me.
“Come to me,” he says.
He knows better than to say that to me. Come is a derogatory order to wolf shifters. Sounds far too much like the way people call dogs. We are not dogs.
“No,” I growl.
“You don’t have to like me, but you do have to spread those…”
I mash the phone button so fast I basically smash my fist into the phone. I’m surprised it still works as I put it to my ear. I wave everyone out of the room at the same time, blushing and furious. They’re grinning as they go, and I know I am probably never going to hear the end of this.
“… cute cheeks for me and let me punish that ass,” he says. “And you know it.”
“Or what?”
“Or maybe I will take the idea you’ve just given me.
Maybe I will have your little friends scooped up one by one, charged with a whole host of crimes that will ensure they’re convicted, and sent to prisons all around the country.
They’ll suffer behind bars for decades, all because you refused to do what you know you should. ”
“This isn’t fair. You’re blackmailing me.”
“I am,” he says. “This is how I perform a great deal of business. That is the nature of power. You wanted to test me, you wanted to compete with me, you wanted to make yourself my problem. Congratulations. You have everything you’ve ever wanted.
You have my attention. And soon, you’ll have my baby. ”
“I hate you.”
“You might hate me,” he agrees. “But you’re dying for me to fuck you. Your pussy is wet and craving my knot. You want to be pinned beneath me, feeling yourself stretched wide. You want to know what it feels like to finally take your wolf form.”
“I don’t want to take my wolf form.”
“I’d love to know how you became the leader of that group without ever having shifted,” he says. “All those males, all vying for control, but you had it the whole time. How?”
“I’m not going to tell you anything that will put them at risk,” I argue. “And I’m not going to talk to you unless you help me.”
I end the call before he can keep talking. Hearing his voice saying those filthy words has put me into a state I do not want to be in. This kind of wanton arousal is dangerous for us all. I need a cold shower right fucking now.