No-one else said a word until Ellie had stormed out. Heading to the stables she grabbed Ebony's saddle and walked the stallion out into the yard. She needed to be alone; she needed the wind racing through her hair, and the freedom provided by the galloping beauty.
Seventy acres was a lot of ground to cover, but they made a good attempt. Arriving at the lake she gave Ebony time to drink while she flounced to the water's edge, still in shorts she felt her legs slip into the cool, calm waters. Looking up to the luminous face of the silver moon, she sighed. What the hell had she gotten herself into, how had she gotten herself into this?
Ellie knew when she was no longer alone before she saw her mom step into view, she was not surprised. Her mom had an uncanny way being in the right place at the right time when it came to her girls.
"Hey sweetheart do you mind if I join you?" She didn’t need an answer, as her mom's feet touched hers in the cool depths of the water she sighed.
"I don’t know why I agreed mom? I am not impulsive, I am a good business woman and I have screwed up."
As her mom wrapped her arm around her and pulled her close, she felt tears pool at her eyes. Now what the hell was wrong with her, she didn’t cry she was stronger than that.
"Sometimes Ellie we make decisions that don’t seem right, yet when we see the outcome of those decisions we see that they were made for a very real reason."
Well unless the reason was to completely infuriate and confuse her, she didn’t know what the reason was. "I don’t like him mom, he annoys the hell out of me. I don’t make irrational decisions yet today I did. I don’t like this uncertainty inside of me, for gods sakes he's a damn closet Jaguar and I don’t even like cats."
Her mom chuckled, "I am not sure what a closet Jaguar is though I am curious."
"He's an Other, a Jaguar but he supresses it."
She could hear an owl in the distance and the croak of a frog that was somewhat closer. As a fish brushed past her foot she moved to avoid the friend following it. The darkness of the night was somehow soothing her.
"Are you sure? I have seen stories about him but none mention that he is a Jaguar."
"Oh he is I had Beth check to confirm it. It's there, just deep down fighting to get out. When I think about what he is doing its animal cruelty, it actually is and I told him that we would not work with him if he…."
Her mom cut off the rest of her sentence. "Nice try Ellie, I think that maybe you need to do this. You need to work out what is happening inside of you and it seems that this man has a part to play in this. Come on, Beth will be here soon and Yvonne is already at the house."
Lifting her legs out of the water she stopped. "Why?"
As her mom pulled her up and into a hug she whispered into her ear. "You have a prestigious music award ceremony to attend tomorrow night so you need to prepare."
Her groan was more than audible, it was painful. "Do I have to?" And in that second their roles had reverted to those from childhood.
"Yes baby you do."
Vaulting into Ebony's saddle she held her hand out to her mom.
"Ellie are you sure Ebony is slightly volatile and just a little bit intimidating."
"Don’t worry mom, I will protect you." With a smile Lucky took her hand. Anticipation of the fuss her sister would make of tomorrow night settled deep in her stomach.
Chapter 9
As Luke sat in the makeup artist's chair, Eric was starting to grate on his nerves.
"I still can't believe that damn fool this morning. Why the hell you agreed to wolf buffoons I don’t know?"
The growl emanating from said wolf buffoon quickly silenced Eric, although a guffaw came from behind Alec's hand. Luke had expected his normal security to be antsy with Silver's however that hadn’t happened. His men had been taken away for some sort of training and returned firm friends with his additional members from Silver's security. They did seem to have a dislike of Eric in common although Eric failed to notice this.
"Eric, let me make a suggestion. Do not keep attempting to disrespect any member of the Silver Co-operation, it may prove hazardous to your health."
Flippantly blowing it off Eric continued. "Now have you decided which of the lovely ladies you are bringing tomorrow night?"
This was a question that brought a smile to his face. "I certainly have although it's one I have picked, not you."
That brought Eric up short just the notion of Luke using his initiative amazed Eric, how long had it been since he made his own decisions? "What, who, no. Wait I minute Luke, who is it, do I know her?"
As the woman left them in the room he smiled and thanked her. "Her name is Ellie and no you don’t know her."
Eric was flustered evident in the pacing he was now doing, his black suit crinkled from the heat of the dressing room. "Then I can't agree Luke. What if she isn’t suitable? What if she makes a fool of herself and then me, sorry I meant you?"
"Eric this isn’t up for negotiation, it is what it is and it is my decision." Luke felt slightly smug at the look on Eric's face. It felt good to take a little bit of control back. As his cue came he left the room with his security following, Alec smiled and clapped him on the way out. The Silver crew seemed pleased with his decision as he entered the stage.
Throughout the interview it was hard to keep the image of her from his head, those sparkling liquid blue eyes kept entering his mind. It was even harder when his host posed the next question.
"Now Luke there is something everyone is dying to know, which beauty will you bring to the awards tomorrow night. As music's most eligible bachelor you have been known to have the most beautiful women swoon at your feet, so put us out of our misery."
"Well, I am confident that my date will outshine every woman in the room, just a look into her eyes renders you paralysed although I have to say she has been hidden away until now. That is all I will tell you the rest will be a surprise."
Oddly Luke didn’t want to talk about Ellie; he wanted to keep her hidden away just for him. He was considered an eligible bachelor, yet he didn’t think that Ellie would care about that.
As the interview ended his limo was waiting to return him to the hotel. Sliding the Ipad from the seat he researched everything he could on Silver Inc. He was so engrossed that he failed to notice Eric talking to him until Eric raised his voice.
"Damn it Luke listen to me." As Luke focused on Eric he actually wanted him to shut up though he didn’t say that. "Let me at least check this woman out, what if she is a gold digger?"
Leaning his head against the seat, he closed his eyes. "She isn’t a gold digger, but if she is it is my problem not yours."
"I am just trying to protect you."
He had heard the subsequent speech many times already so he allowed himself to drown Eric's voice out. He kept seeing her walking across the floor drink in hand, just recalling how she threw the drink over Eric resulted in a small chuckle.
"For fucks sake Luke are you even listening?"
"Yes Eric I am, I need to take this seriously, a woman could damage my reputation, she could seriously reduce my fan base etc. etc."
Before he knew it they had pulled up at the hotel, Silver security and his own were incredibly thorough, checking the elevator and then refusing him entry to his suite until they had poked around.
Pouring himself a drink he took it onto the balcony. Looking at the stars twinkling over his head reminded him of Ellie's eyes twinkling in anger, somewhere in this city they were sharing this night, a thought that made him feel a little more settled. Tomorrow night he would see her.
Swallowing the pills he sat watching the night live as inspiration flooded through him. Grabbing his notebook from his pants he wrote as the night caressed his body and soul.
Chapter 10
As the sun rose as if it were warning her that today was the day, Ellie climbed out of bed with a plan. She needed to see Claire for a well needed reality check so that would be take the first part of the day. She also held h
ope that Claire may help her find a way out of this. It was false hope; unfortunately Claire's advice that was so similar to that of her mom's that she almost believed they had engineered it, though Ellie was pleased that Claire seemed a little better today, not a lot but enough to relieve Ellie's ongoing anxiety.
Ellie had been plucked, waxed and colored, literally in that order. Beth had arrived four hours before she was due to leave and though initially Ellie had no idea what required four hours she now did. Yvonne was Danny's mom who had spent over an hour adding blonde streaks to her hair before giving it what she termed 'a more defined cut.' Grudgingly Ellie had to say that she liked it the more stylish look that suited her.
Beth had gone on to apply makeup that she was adamant would suit the dress, a dress that Ellie had not been allowed to see. Ellie would have been just as happy to wear a pant suit, yet it seemed to be that she would be given no option.
Beth had gone into hyper mode ordering her and everyone else around, after seeing a page in a rather large newspaper that aimed at trying to identify who Luke's date would be, she was determined to ensure that Ellie looked better than all of the famous women that would be in attendance. Ellie considered that this was unachievable bearing in mind that these women spent all day every day in this industry, and many were amazingly beautiful while Ellie was just Ellie.
Stood in the room that had been hers from being ten years old, she slumped on the bed. This was not her; all of this fuss was alien to Ellie. The punching bag, the bar in her wardrobe for pull ups, along with the runners and combats and boots, testified to that.
Closing her eyes, she nearly had a heart attack when Beth screeched. "Get up, don’t you dare mess your hair up."
Beth had this manic wild look in her eyes that was a little scary as she strode forward pulling Ellie up by the arm before circling her. "Thank you god, at least you haven’t mussed it up."
Patiently Beth slipped a platinum necklace around Ellie's neck before placing a soft kiss on her shoulder in a gesture of both affection and excitement. Looking at what now trailed from her neck sitting to nestle in the crevice of her breasts, she smiled at the Hebrew symbol for wolf.
"Ellie this is your Cinderella night so don’t forget to enjoy it. Now let me get the dress, here are your shoes."
Ellie was dreading the shoes because although she could walk in heels after making herself train in them, Ellie recognised that the bigger the heel the harder fighting would be so when she saw the two inch heels she was tremendously relieved. Slipping them on she was wearing only French knickers, silver shoes encrusted with diamantes and a white dressing gown.
Beth returned with a stunning silver and black gown. The corseted top was adorned with diamantes similar to the shoes, at the waist the black chiffon skirt flared out trailing along the floor, with a weight so light it felt as though she were surrounded by clouds. The image in the mirror was an alien, nothing like her.
"Beth, you can't see the shoes so can I…." Her sister had always been shrewd and highly fashion conscious.
"Don’t you dare ask if you can wear boots?" She could see Beth looking at her in the mirror with awe etched across her sister's beautiful face. "Ellie you look magnificent, a true princess."
Never comfortable with compliments she covered it with humour. "As long as I don’t find a prince I can deal with that. Thank you for this Beth."
"Don't thank me; I have always wanted a reason to dress you up. We better move everyone is waiting to see you. Oh this is so exciting, and if anyone asks the dress and shoes are from the Tchycovsky elegance range."
Nodding Ellie followed her down the stairs only to face at least fifty pack members crowded into the hall. Some of the younger males stared until Ben must have growled at them using the telepathy, because they visibly jumped. Other's made comments such as 'wow, but can you do a roundhouse' or 'shit I never noticed that you had breasts.'
Ben though was unhappy. "Fuck it Ellie, you stay here while I end this, if he needs a date that badly he can take me."
Her amusement at Ben helped rid Ellie of her anxiety; Ben had always seen her as the tomboy so he had never needed to worry at men drooling at her for she never noticed. Tonight she watched her mother elbow him as he saw a woman in front of him, not his little girl but another woman for him to worry about.
Walking to him, she kissed his cheek. "Thank you for the offer but I agreed to do this. Besides I can still kick him in the balls."
"You promise."
"I promise Ben." With a smile, he offered her his arm and led her out to the car at the same time as her brain was churning through all of Beth's do's and don’ts, do smile and offer polite greeting, do not stand in a fighting stance, do not kick anyone in the balls, do not pull out any of the knives she had sheathed under her dress, do not throw any punches, do not scowl at any cameras, the list was endless and Ellie had noted that there were more don’ts than do's.
Ben pulled over just outside the gates where a black stretch limo was waiting. As she unclipped her belt, Ben stopped her.
"Wait here a minute. I just need to have a word with this Primadonna." Ellie let him go; Ben needed to be the protective stepfather something she was happy for him to be.
Luke sat in the Limo waiting with baited breath. He only saw her yesterday, but already he needed to see her again. His Jaguar was going crazy and had not stopped since he saw her. As he watched Ben stride to the car, he noted the purposeful movements, the scowling face and questioned what had caused it to be directed at him again.
Luke stepped out of the car nodding his head in greeting; this man was an Alpha and deserved his respect. "Hello again Ben."
"Let me make something clear, you do not touch her, you do not upset her in any way, and you do not let anyone else upset her. I don’t care who you are if she comes home upset I will kill you."
"Absolutely." Luke had figured Ben for a protective father, but not this protective, and then as Ben opened the door Luke felt as though he had been punched in the gut. The vision that stepped out was stunning, elegant, beautiful and just stunning. He was lost for words and Ben's warning now made total sense.
Without turning from the sight that had captivated him, he re-answered Ben with a clearer voice. "I give you my word Ben."
Right now he was contemplating running away into the night with her, she was gorgeous and this roused some conflicting feelings in Luke, he didn’t want anyone else to stare at her and feel the things he was currently feeling. Luke was also thankful that his jacket was long enough to hide his immediate arousal. As she stepped in front of him, his breath hitched, "You look positively stunning. I'm sorry Ellie; I can't stop staring at you."
Although secretly pleased at his reaction she had no intention of letting him know that. "Well don’t get used to it, this is a onetime only gig and let me make something clear I have two knives hidden on me as well as some other little treats that I will use on you if you come near me."
With her point made she climbed into the car. When the drivers partition slid down Ellie was surprised to see Danny next to the driver. "Hey Ell, I never thought I would see you looking like that."
"As I already said Danny this is a one off. I thought Trey was on tonight."
"He was, but May wanted me near you, I am to provide her with hourly updates."
With a groan, she buried her head in her hands. "Surely coming to a prestigious awards ceremony isn’t that bad Ell."
"Going anywhere that involves me wearing a dress is that bad."
Luke was laughing at her unease which pissed her off even though she didn’t think it was a malicious gesture. Handing her champagne he waited for her to taste the soft, sweet liquid hoping that it would relax her and brighten her mood.
"Thanks but I would prefer water. We need to talk strategy." Ellie was being annoying; she wouldn’t make this easy for him.
"I agree." There was amusement in his voice, something he had missed for a long time. Even her annoyance called to him, he contin
ued talking enjoying the various expressions on her face. "So for the next two months you will be my new beau, the beauty on my arm so to speak."
"I will not be anything of the kind; I am your pretend date for the night and then your protection for two months. At the end of that I step out." Ellie's voice was hard and confident though her body felt the opposite.
She was starting to feel slightly hot and uncomfortable, just his presence unnerved her. The interior of the car was dimly lit, the windows dark and tinted preventing onlookers from seeing the passengers, the plush upholstery gently cushioned her frame and though it was spacious it was suddenly too small for her, too cramped.
"Those are the terms loosely, the facts however as advised are that I will be requiring covert security from your company. I have looked at your organisation and it seems that you are the best there is, so I want you. For this to work it has to be convincing. Here are the plans that you wanted for tonight."
He handed her the floor plans for the venue which she took even though Vlad had teleported her there earlier today. There would be guards at each entrance, Danny would be inside the venue and unbeknown to Luke, Vlad was also teleporting Jase into the venue.
It didn’t matter that she had memorised the floor plan, it gave her something else to focus on, something other than the vibrating pulse of the man sat opposite her. The partition slid down.
Danny face was now serious. "Ellie we are two hundred yards away. The car slowed coming to a halt in front of a huge building with ornate gargoyle figures on the top of the two storey property, a red carpet led the way into the building with crowds of screaming people held back by security and bollards, trying to make sense of the risk became a challenge with the constant flashing from cameras. Ellie lifted her head in awe only to have Luke grasp her hand.
"Just follow my cues and smile it doesn’t matter what happens keep smiling."
As the car door was opened for them to exit, Ellie took a breath and allowed Luke to lead her into madness; her senses went into overdrive at the shouting, cheering and questions that assailed her from the onset. As her eyes were blinded from the intense flashing she squinted to orientate herself, she had never had to manage this type of crowd as an object before, normally she was the one moving the crowds not being peered at by them. Ellie knew that without Luke guiding her, she would surely have fallen flat on her face.
Taming the Warrior Page 4