The lights lighting the way were intense and hot, already she could feel beads of sweat forming on her open back. Luke stopped to touch people, and sign pictures making himself an open target. She went into professional mode, standing tall, scanning the crowd, watching while remembering to smile. Her ears were going to explode from the noise, damn why didn’t she think to bring ear plugs. She saw cameras following Luke's every move, every step and in turn following hers. Danny was a few steps behind, but she knew he had her back. As they moved forward they were accosted by the paparazzi whose main question's centred on her.
"So Luke, this is the mystery date. Who is she, is she a model, a budding actress, a designer? Can we have a picture of you together?"
None of the questions addressed her directly which was somewhat disrespectful. She was flustered by all of this attention preferring to be in the background. Luke though, he took it all in his stride.
"Guys, give the girl some room to breathe. This is Ellie, and yes she is beautiful enough to be a model or an actress however she is none of those things. She is an extraordinary woman who has given me the pleasure of her company for tonight's festivities."
While most of the paparazzi continued taking photos one muttered, "I bet she is good in the sack."
While Ellie ignored him, Luke failed to take his own advice with his 'keep smiling' which didn’t quite work when he growled. "It's good manners to offer respect when you are in the presence of a lady."
Chapter 11
Before it could go any further they were ushered inside a bar where if she had been the type to get starstruck it would have started right at that moment. They entered a grand room, brightly lit by three enormous glass chandeliers, red velvet hanging from the ceiling and draping over the windows.
She watched as people air kissed others, the word darling was said too many times to remember while Luke was being swamped by people vying for his attention. She tried to slip backwards out of the way, but Luke's grip was too firm. As a buxom blonde started with the air kissing, Ellie watched as she pulled Luke into an embrace that just screamed mine. Ellie didn’t mine, she didn’t want him yet as the woman moved to kiss his lips her eyes narrowed on the woman's jugular. Never before had she thought of sinking her teeth into any woman, the feelings were mainly at the woman's complete ignorance that Ellie was stood there, it was disrespectful and damn rude.
"Lindy, let me introduce Ellie my date for this evening and if I am truly lucky she will be my date for tomorrow."
Ellie felt herself blush as the woman finally met her gaze with hunger in her eyes.
"I haven’t seen you in our circles before." Her tone was dismissive and arrogant.
Ellie straightened her spine. "Of course you haven't, to be honest I have more appealing circles, though I can see why this would appeal to someone like you. If you would excuse us Darling Lindy, Luke I feel the need for that champagne now."
Luke laughed at Ellie's haughty tone she handled herself particularly well, he was impressed.
"I think you surprised Lindy,"
"I think I surprised myself and I actually would like a drink now."
Luke was taller than her, so right now he was being treated to a hint of cleavage and a lot of skin. Skin that was so smooth he wanted to run his fingers down her neck and along the expanse of her shoulders. Heading to the bar, he could feel Ellie taking in the room, yet she failed to notice the admiring glances of the men as they passed. Luke however did not, nor did he ignore the fact that some of these glances came from people he had known for some years. Narrowing his gaze, he laid a proprietary hand on Ellie's shoulder, the heat from his body humming at contact with her cool creamy skin.
She could see Danny motioning his head to her as Luke handed her a glass of champagne. "Excuse me a moment."
She wandered towards the pictures on the wall, pretending to look at the famous faces peering from the canvases. Slowly she made her way to Danny.
"A delivery just arrived at Luke's hotel. Ben's headed over there now."
"What sort of delivery?" The crowd continued to meet and greet with soft music in the background. There was a general air of bullshit in the room where when smiles ended and people moved away, the smiles turned to a look of daggers.
"The bellboy found it sat outside of the hotel, a small box of some sort."
"Tell Ben to be careful, get it checked out before he touches it. Keep me updated."
A gong sounded in the distance, looking round she watched as people shuffled out of the room. For a second, she couldn’t see Luke until Danny murmured three o clock which made Ellie thankful that her team were doing their job, unlike her.
"Check in with Jase please."
Luke smiled as she took her arm. "Hopefully there is no problem, is there?"
"Absolutely not." This night seemed important to him so it was best that he not know about the delivery.
A waitress showed them to their table where they were joined by a Hollywood duo, another male pop singer and a hugely popular boy band. Finally a young female singer joined them completing the table. Ellie knew who each person was, from her contacts she had known the table plans, but now she was seated she wasn’t quite sure what to do.
Leaning into Luke, she caught a snippet of his aftershave, it smelled like him, strong and subtle. Quickly moving back she was too late to stop Luke from moving his chair closer to her.
"A problem Ellie." He brushed a strand of hair from her face, his touch making her shiver.
"What happens now?" He was too close, she shifted her chair an inch to her left even though her actions brought her closer to the young male on the other side, this wasn’t a bad thing Ellie felt more able to control a stranger than Luke.
"What would you like to happen now?" His voice was husky near her neck causing the vibrations to tickle her ear.
"If you get any closer or ask any more ridiculous questions," Ellie's own tone was husky giving a feigned hint of reciprocation, "the knife next to your thigh will make a little appearance."
Luke laughed at the reaction from Ellie although the glee was only momentary as a heel discreetly slammed on top of his shoe. Thankfully Ellie couldn’t see his reaction, if she could have seen his erection he had no doubt that she would use the knife next time.
"Point taken, so now we wait, we drink, socialise and prepare for the fun to start."
Ellie sighed, bloody marvellous, more ass kissing and fake conversations starting with the person next to her.
"Hello gorgeous, I am Max."
She knew who he was, she also knew his date of birth, home address, his ex-girlfriends address, parents address and the balance of his bank account. Imogen was damned proficient at her job.
"My name is Ellie, and can I just say that you don’t need to waste your time sucking up to me, I can't further your career and have no intention of trading sexual favours."
She poured herself some wine, enjoying the tangy fruit flavour. She wasn’t expecting any response from her neighbour so was slightly amused when he continued their conversation.
"Well in that case, I can breathe and give up any pretence of nice and head straight to normal. If I am not going to receive sex I can impress you with my humour and gossip however, if our lovely single lady looks my way I may need to make her jealous, although if I recall correctly, she puts out either way."
There was something immensely likeable about Max. With his big brown eyes, and hair in curtains with a slight wave, he presented as the boy next door albeit a remarkably handsome boy next door.
Draining her glass, she saw that Luke had turned his attention to the couple who were talking with him about real estate, which struck Ellie as an odd conversation.
"If you look closely at their pupils you will see that both are stoned. They always are, which is why they do the morning show it's early enough to catch them before they light up."
"No!" Ellie hadn’t known this.
"Yes. In the next break they will sneak off somewh
ere and light up again. Look to table four, see the blondes hand it is about to move to the lap of the man next to her, the verymarried man next to her. Every year people vie to sit next to her, she is predictable and a hussy."
Ellie couldn’t help but giggle. Looking around she tried to observe the people in the room. "Okay try this, the man on table eight is secretly having a fling with the woman on table ten. In the next thirty minutes they will sneak away to somewhere a little more private."
Now it was Max's turn to watch. "No, his wife is sat next to him."
"Ah but watch how much she is drinking, every time she finishes a glass he pours her another so that when she gets too drunk she will have to leave."
"Sneaky, I will have to watch you."
She felt Luke's gaze on her neck, turning with a smile she lifted her glass emptying it thinking that maybe tonight wouldn’t be so challenging after all. "Excuse me; I need to visit the ladies."
Luke and Max stood to allow her to leave as she followed the sign to the toilets. Jase was waiting for her hopefully with more information.
"Hey Ellie, you look hot tonight girl." Jase was slowly becoming the pack flirt taking over from her uncle Nick, but he was a damned good body guard. With his shaved head he looked intimidating until he spoke; Jase's natural way with people took them off guard.
"Don’t bother Jase, you know that Ben will literally skin you alive if he catches you looking at me like that. Any news on the package?"
She poked him in the chest when a petite waitress walked by causing him to stare.
"Sorry, but shit there is some impressive booty here tonight. There was nothing of concern in the package just chocolates. Apparently your mom was disappointed that they were dark chocolates. Oh and Beth sent some messages when Vlad poofed her in and then out. Let me get them right, 'it's time to reapply the lipstick, stop gossiping with the young stud and lavish some attention to your date.' There I got it right." His impersonation of her sister was amusing and very realistic.
Laughing she headed to the toilets to reapply the lipstick, stopping to stare when she realised that even these were luscious and contained every toiletry that could ever be needed. Whilst in the stall she stopped to listen when she became the object of a discussion.
"I was hoping to catch up with Luke tonight. Who's the woman with him?"
"I have no idea, but she seems a little frigid which leaves us some hope. I think I am going to make a play for him. She seems more interested in Max than Luke."
Clearing her throat, Ellie stepped from her spot to the embarrassment of the women. "Good evening ladies, I will tell Luke your thoughts although I don’t like your chances. Hey I am an adventurous girl; maybe I will take Luke and Max both home."
Her smile faded as she left the toilets. How dare they plan like that, Luke came with her but their scruples were that crap that they would go after him regardless. Well two could play that game, as she made her way back to the table; she saw Luke's eyes following her trail. Sitting down she leaned over a placed a chaste kiss on his lips taking in his astonished expression at her actions.
Her demonstration prompted Luke to move closer and drape an arm around her. Ellie took another sip of her wine just as someone arrived on the stage to announce the start of the awards ceremony. Everyone hushed as the cameras started rotating around the room. Listening with only half an ear, Max nudged her.
"Shit girl you are good. How the hell did you call that?" She followed his line of sight only to find the now exceedingly drunk wife leaving.
"Watching people is part of what I do."
Max' eyes seemed to focus on her before he continued the conversation. "Don’t tell me, let me guess."
The host interrupted them, by announcing the winner of the year's biggest music track. As everyone clapped, they were overshadowed by a few loud cheers, Ellie watched in fascination as the winner mounted the stage and proceeded to give thanks to the fans. She had to admit that she was a little engrossed watching all of these people who earned millions every year. From the outside they seemed so distant and different from the rest of the population, sat here though, they seemed normal and the same as everyone else, maybe even a little more dysfunctional than the rest of the population.
"A therapist." The words brought Ellie back to Max.
"Huh, no sorry."
"A shame, I could get to like talking with you. Mmm are you police woman, that wouldn't work, I couldn’t get through the rest of the night thinking that some thug could mar that beautiful face of yours."
Luke was sat listening to the conversation next to him, his Jaguar was making a rise for supremacy angry at Luke for not taking out the man who had Ellie's attention. Luke did envy the ease of their conversation, maybe he needed to relax around her and stop thinking of slipping her out of that stunning dress.
He was tapped on the shoulder reminding him to head off for his performance. Smiling he nodded before standing, immediately he had a wolf at his back. Ellie looked up at him.
"I will be back soon, I have to perform tonight."
She whispered something to Danny who frowned before following him out. He had to say the packs security was thorough, as he went to the back rooms he was shocked to be flanked by yet another wolf. Luke hadn’t even seen him arrive though clearly Danny was expecting him.
*********************************
With her head a little clearer, Ellie took in everything around them as Luke left; it didn’t feel right to be sat here when she was supposed to be working. Normally she would be following the client with Danny coming from behind to cover her; instead she was left watching and hoping nothing happened to Luke. Her hands were itching to do something, sliding them down her dress she was comforted by her sharp friends sheathed on her legs.
Max was still chatting animatedly in ignorance of the weapons so clost to him. "Okay I have it, a scientist."
"No, but my sister is."
"Really what type?"
He actually sounded interested. "May is a doctor and a genetic scientist."
"Wow, there are two of you. Is she single and can I meet her?"
Max took her off guard; he was so easy to be around and different from others here, he was confident without being arrogant.
"She is my twin, and yes she is single although if you even looked her way a certain man is likely to maul you." Danny had always been close to May so everyone expected it to develop into something more in the future; so far neither of them had met anyone else.
"No you can't meet her, because if you upset her I would have to kill you, and so far I kind of like you. Oh and there are four girls and my mom was a cop not me."
They clapped as someone else mounted the stage. Ellie took another glance around the room looking for anything out of place. She felt so lost here out of her comfort zone, and she knew even now that she would never again provide this type of security.
"Four girls, wow. Do they look like you?"
With a laugh she responded to his question. "A poorly phrased question I have to say. No, they don’t look like me; my older sister is so stunningly attractive to the extent that men drool as we pass. Claire is in between looks at the minute, but she is an individual in nature and appearance, she has a huge heart that endears people to her. And May look likes me, but she is so much smarter and comfortable in herself."
"So which ones are single, actually ignore that comment I don’t mind a little competition if they are taken." His laughter warned her that his words were not serious.
He had no idea what effect those words would have on Vlad or Ben or the rest of the pack.
"Well if you went after Beth, you would be in for a world of pain; her husband heads the New York Vampires."
He choked on his drink, coughing and spluttering as she chuckled. "You are shitting me, no you aren’t. Oh my god, I have seen your sister on several occasions so I know how stunning she is, but alas she seems so far out of reach it is unreal, and the other sisters?"
"Wel
l Claire is in a vulnerable place right now so is out of bounds to everyone and if anyone did upset her both my stepfather and I would kill them."
"Don’t tell me, your stepfather is part of the Mafia."
Now she laughed out loud. "Don’t be ridiculous, he's the Alpha of the Silver Wolf Pack."
As she watched him gulp, he looked around nervously she laughed again. "Don't worry he is a puppy dog except where his girls are concerned."
"Does Luke have any idea what he has taken on?"
"He certainly does though he apparently has no sense of self-preservation."
The lights on the stage dimmed as the multiple cameras zeroed on the stage.
"So how did you meet Luke?"
"Our company provides security; he met with my stepfather and bang what can I say, the room emptied I saw nothing but him, he saw nothing but me and the rest you could say is history."
And then that exact thing happened. The lights dimmed as Luke rose from under the stage and the spotlight hit him at the exact time he made eye contact with her. The band started, he had changed from his suit into a pair of butt hugging denims and black t-shirt that fit in ALL the right places. As his strong voice kicked out the lyrics she was truly mesmerised, inside it felt as though the room had emptied leaving only the two of them. So focused on him was she that Ellie missed the intense look Max was giving her. As the song ended, the applause cut through the crowd. Surprised to find her hands smacking together in enthusiasm she just caught Max's eye as he winked at her.
"The poor bastard is hung drawn and quartered. If I see a front line saying singing super star mauled by wolf, I will know that he has pissed off the wrong girl."
Aware that she was acting out of sorts she blushed before responding. "I have no idea what you are talking about Max."
Taming the Warrior Page 5