Chapter 2
ROY
Damn. I guessed Fate didn’t hate me after all.
She’d dealt me some pretty shitty cards in the past, so I’d lost faith. But now, I was a believer. Because she just delivered something I hadn’t even dared to hope for. Hadn’t ever asked for. Hadn’t believed would happen for me.
My mate.
Not just to my hotel room but straight into my arms. The second our bodies collided, I’d recognized that the fleeing female was mine.
Her delicious scent swirled around me–the most incredible notes of caramel and sweet bread, marred by the metallic taste of fear.
I simultaneously wanted to taste every inch of her and rush out the door to tear the head off whoever the fuck was chasing her and making her afraid. Because someone was after her.
There were at least two of them. My strong shifter hearing picked them up when they divided up in pursuit. I’d seen her look of panic.
Whoever the fuck they were, they were chasing my mate.
A muted growl rumbled from my chest. I would kill them.
The curvy Asian human with long, shiny black hair blinked up at me. “I’m sorry, I–”
I stopped her frightened whisper with a finger over her soft lips. Her eyes widened, and a burst of air escaped her lips.
Her pursuer was right outside our door now, his heavy footfalls clomping to the stairwell, then back.
He pounded on my door.
Her body jolted in my arms. She clutched my forearm, her pink nails digging into my flesh. Yes, grab me, mate.
I moved my finger from her lips to mine, signaling for her to keep quiet.
Fear got the best of her, and she bolted across the huge living room into the master bedroom.
This huge penthouse my brother Boone had reserved for me had two.
My wolf ears allowed me to hear her enter the ensuite bathroom and then the shower, the clank of the glass door shutting behind her.
I wanted to open the door and get a good look at the man who made my mate tremble in fear, but I wasn’t giving the fucker an opportunity to get closer to her. If he thought no one was here, the better. It was my job now to take care of this woman, no matter what.
I peered through the peephole and saw–warped by the fisheye glass–a large human male in a suit with a gun at his waist. Bald, thick neck.
Even studying him with only one eye, he looked like a mob enforcer.
Or a drug dealer’s bodyguard. He looked fierce.
Strong. Mean. He’d be a threat to someone pint-sized like my mate, but to me, he was a little punk on an elementary school playground.
Why was a thug like him after my sweet mate? Was she not as sweet as she seemed?
No matter. Whatever her problem, I would solve it.
He looked impatiently at the door and knocked again. Then turned his head left and right, as if assessing the hallway.
After ten seconds, he gave up and walked away.
I heard him swear and move down the hall, knocking on the door across the hall.
After twenty seconds and no one answering from that penthouse either, he turned and went back the way he’d originally come.
I waited until the sound of his footsteps disappeared.
Done with him and knowing my mate was safe, I headed to the bathroom.
The female stood hunched in the shower, holding her stiletto heels by their straps.
Her skirt was rucked up around her upper thighs, giving me a glorious view of her bare, shapely legs.
She was dressed for business, a trim black skirt, pale blue silk blouse with tiny pearl buttons.
She looked professional. Dainty. Completely different than any mate I ever dreamed of because women in Montana where I lived didn’t even own a pair of heels.
“Hey.” I kept my voice soft, trying to sound comforting even though I was a stranger to her.
“Is… is he gone?” she whispered, her dark eyes meeting mine. Fuck me, she was perfect. She wore makeup, a hint of mascara and a slash of a soft pink lipstick. She didn’t need it, but fuck was she pretty.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah. Who is he? What does he want with you?”
Her eyes darted toward the open bathroom door. She started to edge around me as if a cornered animal.
Shit! She wanted to leave. Now that the immediate danger had disappeared, she no longer wanted to be in a hotel room with a strange man.
I couldn’t blame her for that.
But I also didn’t want to let her go. Wouldn’t let her out of my sight. Especially with that big fucker after her. No way was I leaving her alone to fend for herself.
I wasn’t going to throw Fate’s gift back unclaimed.
The idea of claiming this tantalizing female had my dick slamming against my zipper.
I could lead her the ten steps into the bedroom, set her carefully upon the bed and rid her of her clothing.
Show her how it would be between us. Make her mine by giving her my mark.
Make her forget her name, let alone that she had men hunting for her, with orgasm after orgasm.
Down, boy.
No matter what my wolf and dick wanted, I stepped back, so she didn’t feel threatened.
I couldn’t make her mine if she was afraid of me.
Boone had met his mate recently. A human.
He’d had a difficult time proving to Summer that he wasn’t a danger to her, especially since he was even bigger than me, and I was a big fucker.
I worked with wood. I was well muscled and had rough hands.
Rough features from living in the wilderness.
I was feral compared to my human mate, especially in her prim and tidy business attire.
I wondered what she did for a living, especially with someone after her.
What the hell could she have done to piss someone off so badly?
“Okay,” I said, hoping to appease her. “You don’t have to tell me. It’s none of my business.”
Obviously, she was on the penthouse floor for a reason. The only way to get to this level was with a keycard, so either she was staying here or was a guest. She had to have been in one of the other suites and fled.
Why and from whom? I wanted her to tell me, so I could go and rip their heads clean off their bodies–it would soothe my inner wolf to protect our mate but also because I’d been cooped up in this crowded city all week, which drove me crazy. I could be patient, as long as she didn’t leave.
“You’re safe with me,” I added. “I promise. But there’s no way I’m letting you go anywhere alone. Can you call a friend to pick you up?”
She rubbed her lips together, thinking.
I tried hard not to stare at them. To imagine what it would be like to kiss them. Or have them wrapped around my di–
Nope. I slammed the door on that thought. My wolf eyes were probably already glinting. Getting turned on by imagining the dirty things I wanted to do with this woman was not going to help.
“I can drive you home.” I veered into safer territory when her expression turned wary. “Or call you a cab?”
Not that I wouldn’t follow.
“It’s okay.” I stepped back further to let her out of the steam shower, and she rushed toward the door.
She tucked her hair behind her ear. “I, um, I drove here. My car’s in the parking garage.”
I stayed right on her tail. “Then I’ll escort you down.”
No way was I letting her leave this room or even this hotel on her own. Hell, I wasn’t letting her go off in her car by herself. Not if whoever was after her was still alive. But if I told her all this, she’d freak out even more than she already was. One step at a time.
She paused in the penthouse’s main room and turned to look at me, doubt clouding her eyes.
I gave her a smile and held my hands out by my side, hoping to show her I meant her no harm. “Don’t worry, sugar. I won’t let those guys anywhere near you.”
Her forehead creased. “How do you know there are guys, multiple ?”
Fuck. Now I was already revealing my shifter abilities. My pack alpha, Rob, would kill me if he knew she’d figured out my secret. “I heard them saying to split up at the elevator.” I tapped my ear. “I have superhuman hearing.” I grinned to make her think the truth was a joke, and it worked.
A reluctant smile twisted her lips, and some of the tension left her shoulders.
“Um, okay. Yeah. An escort would be great.” She hung onto the back of a couch to shove her feet back in her high heels and pull her skirt down. “But, um, maybe we should take the stairwell?”
“Good idea.”
I tried to temper my wolf’s celebration. Nothing was locked in yet. I didn’t even know her name. Or have her number. I didn’t know how I’d ever find her again if she drove off without giving them to me.
I needed to win her trust fast.
“Let me check it.” I opened the door to the hallway. She followed. I held up a hand and slid past her, nearly groaning at the feel of her soft ass brushing my legs. “Wait here for a second, and I’ll make sure he’s not waiting in there.”
Bolstered by the look of relief on her face, I walked to the stairwell exit and threw open the door.
I was in Denver for the week at the trade show, staying in this roomy penthouse suite to help me combat the claustrophobia from being in a city.
I couldn’t handle a small place like a regular hotel room.
That my suite was close to the stairwell was a perk.
When my mate came running down that hallway, I’d just finished up the last day at the show and returned to the hotel.
I’d decided once wasn’t enough, and I jogged up and down the flight of stairs seven times, trying to get my wolf to calm down enough to go inside.
Elevators were a total no-go for me. I’d lose my shit in one, even with my mate at my side.
I stepped into the stairwell and sniffed.
Yeah. The asshole had been here. He’d gone down the stairs. The question was–was he waiting for her at the bottom?
If they were still after her, they probably had the stairs and elevator exits covered.
I retreated and held the door, so it shut quietly. “Come on.”
I walked toward the other stairwell at the far end of the hall.
“Was he in there?” Her voice warbled on the question as she followed.
I shrugged. “I couldn’t be sure, but he might be waiting on the first floor. Follow me.”
I wanted to take her hand, but I knew it wouldn’t be appropriate. Yet. I stayed close to her, though, walking swiftly down the hallway. She panicked when we passed the elevator and kept going straight. “No.” She grabbed my arm, sending a jolt of electricity through me.
If I’d had any doubt she was my mate, that clinched it.
“Not that way,” she whispered.
I glanced down the hall. Okay. So that was the direction she came from. That made sense.
The elevator doors dinged and slid open. I shoved her behind me, but it was empty.
She peered anxiously back and forth. The scent of her fear twisted in my nostrils.
Fuck it. For her, I could do it. I could get in an elevator and not go apeshit. I hoped. Just one floor down, and then we’d get off and take the other stairwell. The car wasn’t a prison cell.
I grabbed her hand, urging her into the elevator and hitting the close button. I hit all the buttons on the elevator, starting with the next floor down.
I held my breath as we glided down, forcing my wolf to stay calm. Not to panic. Not to freak out and think we were in that prison cell again.
Almost there.
Almost there.
Don’t freak.
Fortunately, it was a fast elevator, and in seconds, the door slid open with a ding, and I jumped off, pulling her after me.
“This way.” I led her down the hallway to the opposite stairwell, trying to get my heart rate to slow, where I cracked the door open to sniff and listen first. I didn’t catch any fresh scents.
I gave her a nod.
She sent me a faint, forced smile and slipped her heels off again to take the stairs in her bare feet.
I went first, so I could meet any trouble we ran into. I led us past the first floor to the parking level and cracked the door open to sniff. The smell of exhaust and oil overwhelmed my senses.
Fuck, I hated cities. I missed my cabin in the woods in Montana. Open spaces. Fresh air.
The female–whose name I still didn’t know–slipped her shoes back on.
“It’s this way,” she pointed and started forward.
A car drove by, its wheels loud as they turned the corner to go down the ramp.
We walked past about ten parked cars then came to hers.
Two big men in suits came out from behind a concrete pillar.
Fuck, that passing car had kept me from hearing them.
One held a gun, the glint of it catching on the fluorescent lighting. I snatched up my mate, turning to put my back to them, so my body was curled around hers, then started to sprint for the stairwell.
The first shot went wide.
The second one struck home.