Without noticing, she lay against the Jaguar watching the moon and the stars as they prepared for a sleep of their won. "Somewhere up there is my father looking down on us though that is assuming the gods and goddesses let him, sometimes it pisses me off that they have him close to them and I don’t. I have never feared the night as most do, you expect the night to contain things that scare you, yet it’s the day I fear you never know what's coming for you during the day."
When her hand stopped moving, his mouth nudged her to continue. "Okay, okay I will keep stroking you if you do me a favour. Keep your other half away from me, I have defences for a reason and I need to keep them. If I let my defences go I won't be strong enough to stand by Ben and keep my family safe. Like he thinks that you make him weak, I know that my emotions make me weak."
With that she stood and started running again leaving Luke astounded. He feared his Jaguar taking control and she feared her emotions, so both of them were running. He knew that inside both he and his Jaguar would not let her go until whatever between them was done.
Chapter 13
Ellie woke to a somewhat nauseous feeling from the motion of movement on her bed, opening her eyes just a peep she saw her brother's surrounding her with each jumping on her bed. Her eyes registered doubles, then triples before seeing that she was surrounded.
"Ellie wake up, there's a strange man downstairs'."
Oliver had jumped on the floor and was using his immense strength to shake the bed frame. Opening her eyes fully she grinned at him before tickling him, only for Logan to jump to the end of the bed and round to her, while Ethan came from the other side. Both proceeded to tickle her in return, always highly sensitive she quickly let go of Oli with a squeal which encouraged him to join the others. As her body flayed with laughter, she tried burying herself under the covers only to have them yanked away.
All three boys were back on her bed leading Ellie to think that maybe she should invest in a single bed so there was not as much room. Grabbing Ethan by the legs, she reared up with him over her shoulder as Oli increased his tickling while Logan tried to rescue Ethan. When that didn’t work Logan started tickling her while Oli decided to use his brute strength to yank Ethan over the other side. Abruptly she let go, sending her brothers sprawling to the floor, while she quickly grabbed Logan tickling him so that he squirmed to the floor to get away from her.
With escape at the forefront of her mind, she launched herself to the floor and prepared to dash out of the door knowing the boys would be plotting revenge. Before the thought progressed, Logan called out.
"Uh oh, the big cat's here." Lifting her head, she stopped still when she saw that Luke was stood at the door with a coffee, sporting a whopping grin.
"What the hell." The words were out before Ellie could stop them.
Ethan noted her tone and pushed his brothers up before moving to her side. "Do you want him gone Ellie." She didn’t look away from Luke's face when she answered.
"I do baby, but I got this one."
Her words didn’t matter; all three boys were by her side in an instant. "I come in peace, your mom asked me to bring you this." The hand not containing coffee was palm up.
Behind Luke her mom materialised, looking at the chaos that was her room she tutted at them all. "What on earth happened in here?" The boys looked at the floor until Oli answered for them all.
"It was Ellie's fault mom we just popped in to say morning when she attacked us, honest mom."
Ellie looked at the butter wouldn’t melt expression on his face. "You little rascal."
Ethan ran from the room first, and then Logan at which point Oli followed sharpish. She was going to give chase, but that would mean passing Luke. Conveniently her mom had also vanished.
"Coffee for you. The boys look as though they would be a handful."
"They are a handful already Luke, a fantastic handful." She started to tidy the mess caused by her brothers all the while avoiding Luke's intense gaze.
He surveyed the room, which was totally Ellie as his eyes took in the large space taken up with a weight bench, a computer table and various plans on the walls; he was too far away to see what the plans were for. He could see runners on the floor, a winner's belt from some sort of martial arts in a frame on the wall. The walls were a soft grey, but suited the room as well as the purples on the bed; actually the bed was the only luxurious item in the room, a four poster with pillows of varying sizes and a plump duvet that must dwarf Ellie. Automatically an image of her in the bed formed in his mind, he continued speaking to prevent his body from going into overdrive.
"They are strong and loyal; I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of them when they get older." Luke's tone held amusement as well as a hint of appreciation when he talked of her brother. He watched Ellie moving around in a pair of black boy shorts, and a pink tank top with growing physical discomfort.
She murmured agreement. "They are a force already; they have the potential to be unstoppable as adults. The positive thing though is that they have loving hearts and a strong sense of right and wrong." The pride was in her voice something he was starting to understand that was always present when she spoke about her family.
"It's a feeling I get from the few people I have met here. You are exceptionally lucky; in my business it is difficult finding one loyal and genuine person let alone a community of them. Ben asked if you were ready to meet."
"After a shower I will be."
Luke stood looking into the room long after she had left; there was something warm about it, something fitting. His Jaguar breathed in her essence enjoying the feeling of her scent coursing through him. He didn’t want to leave, but his animal was warning him of a predator nearby, so turning he was surprised to find one of the brothers watching him from the other end of the corridor. He didn’t have a lot of experience with children, but the predator in him knew that he wasn’t engaging with a child, he was engaging with another predator who had a question that didn’t need asking.
"I don’t want to hurt her."
"Then you had better not." The boy's eyes were steel, his back straight with his chest puffed out as only a child could do without looking arrogant.
"How do I make her like me?" Why he asked a child a question like that he didn’t understand, though he wondered if it had been because the child made her eyes light up, her brothers had made her laugh a deep belly laugh. Luke understood that she genuinely enjoyed her brothers company, and this was something he wanted her to feel about him.
"If it were Beth then I would say that you would need to buy her the world. If it were Claire, then I would say that you would need to save the world. May would need you to heal the world and remember that she had more than a brain inside of her, but Ellie is different. Ellie is a fighter so she will need someone who is brave and strong. We are Ellie's world, if we don’t like you then it's too late." Luke could hear a veiled threat in there and marvelled at this young man's cunning.
With a gulp he nodded. "So how do I make you like me?"
"You don't, for our family to accept you then it is simple, you need to be true to you and make her smile."
"Damn, I don’t seem to do that too well." Luke was not feeling positive about this, it seemed that the pack embraced their animalistic nature whereas he hid his. He was now sat on the top step with a boy who couldn’t have been more than twelve years old, yet when you looked in his eyes he could have been an ancient man.
"You don’t, she is odd when you are near. I don't know why, we love Ellie and she is strong so if you make her weak we will kill you."
Luke had no doubt that this was true. "Define we."
"We, is me and my brothers although my dad and pack will do it if we can't. What's your cat like?"
He didn’t expect this question. "Well he doesn’t like being called a cat, he is stronger than that. Sometimes too strong, Ellie says I need to let him out more but doesn’t seem to understand that I get scared. I have always feared my Jagu
ar taking over."
With a sigh the boy leaned his head against the wall. "Our wolves are not meant to develop until we hit a certain age, but mine has always been with me. I can't remember ever having silence inside of me. Sometimes I get worried that as he develops he will take over from me too, I haven’t told anyone that before not even my brothers. I don’t know what to do about it either."
Luke felt for this boy, a child with an adult problem. How the hell was a boy supposed to deal with this if he, a grown man couldn't? "Do you think Ellie is right, if I let my Jaguar out more will he stop fighting for control?"
"I don’t know, but Ellie is pretty good with these things. I am too young to shift so I won't know that for a long time."
Well the boy was right about Ellie needing a strong man so it was time to face his fears and be that warrior, it was time to man up. "Well what if I test that theory and you help me know if it works."
The boy's eyes brightened, now he appeared as a child should look. "Really."
Luke nodded, "really, but only if you tell me if my Jaguar starts to take over."
"I will, I promise."
Luke stood holding his hand out for this boy who in the space of a few minutes had snuck into his heart. "Then we have a deal."
Luke went to make his way down the stairs until the child stopped him. "Either you are a nice person or very sly and are using me to get to Ellie."
Not only was this boy ancient but he was astute. "It's the first, but you are wise to question it."
"Maybe I will help you make Ellie smile so then me and my brothers won't have to kill you." This boy was very sweet and a little scary.
"Help would be appreciated."
As she watched them head down the stairs, her heart was in her mouth as she thought of her brother and the burden he seemed set to carry. Poor Ethan, he was hiding so much that he must feel both scared and alone. His wolf must be strong to have developed already, why he didn’t have the marking on his back as happened to all wolves when their alter ego developed was anyone guess. For him not to have told Oli and Logan meant that Ethan truly was scared at how strong his wolf was.
Damn it, Luke had said he would help well she would make damn sure he did even if she had to drag his Jaguar out. The only problem she could foresee with this plan was that she would have to spend more time with the idiot to make it happen.
Chapter 14
When Ellie made her way downstairs, she found that the boys had gone off to play leaving Ben, Danny, Theo, her mom and her uncle Nicky in the kitchen waiting. Luke was on the phone to his manager Eric, who seemed unimpressed that Luke was not at his hotel this morning. Ellie didn’t actually care how annoyed Eric was, plonking herself down Luke ended the call as everyone turned to her.
"Here's the plan, Theo and I will go to the hotel room to see if Theo can get a grip on an energy signature. Danny you need to get some sleep, I assume Jase has gone to bed. Is Tom putting some extra time into Luke's usual guards?" Danny nodded, prompting Ellie to continue. "Excellent, Ben as soon as May gets the report on the chocolates we may know more. I will arrange to have Luke's fan mail sent here so Imogen and Mary can go through it."
"I am sorry to interrupt, but I get on average seven to eight hundred letters every day, emails can be in their thousands. I have a team of ten people working on them full time." Luke wasn’t being arrogant just factual.
Great, Ellie was trying to get her head around the numbers. "Okay this is what we will do; give Imogen the email address so she can perform a search based on specific words. Ben can you draft in Celia, gran and pops for the letters? Luke I need a copy of you movements for the next week, it will give us a chance to scope out where the threats may come from, but I need you to make sure we know of any deviations in advance."
Luke was watching in awe as she just took charge issuing orders while everyone listened to her. This was where her strengths lay in the planning and preparation needed for her work. "You will know all of my movements, if you recall we have an agreement for covert surveillance so you will be with me."
Closing her eyes in an attempt to draw strength she took a deep breath. "I do remember Luke, however you are not proposing that we spend every minute of every day together, are you? Surely you understand that I have commitments here."
Everyone discreetly looked down not wanting to get in the middle of the two of them and the potential eruptions from this conversation. "That is exactly what I am paying for, for two months you live my life, although I understand your need to be close to your family. It was a relief letting my Jaguar roam for a while so if it is okay I would like that opportunity again, which means that when you need to return here I can come with you."
Instinct was to tell him to go to hell, yet sense told her that Luke had made a promise to Ethan, one he WOULD deliver on.
"Fine have it your way, just know that I will not make this easy on you. You do realise that I will not fit into your world, I don’t look the part and I certainly don’t dress the part."
Everyone looked over her shoulder before again looking down at the floor, Ellie turned when the person behind her cleared their throat. "Then it is a good job I am here."
With a loud groan, she contemplated running away even though she knew she would not get far. "Beth, please don’t do this to me."
"Do what sweetie, we need a shopping trip and I know exactly what you will need for the next two months, so think of it as an educational trip. Now hurry and get changed. You must be Luke, its lovely to meet you. I would shake your hand, but my vamp gets a little territorial."
Ellie mounted the stairs stomping her feet in a tantrum as Luke listened to the continued conversations around him without turning his eyes from the men at the table. It had been a bold move laying down the terms of their involvement in front of the pack, but if he knew one thing it was Alpha males, to capture Ellie he would need to earn their respect.
He was waiting when Ellie returned wearing a pair of light blue denims that made her look cute and emphasised her butt, annoyed as hell but cute all the same.
"Believe it or not Beth; I have work to do first."
"That’s fine, though we will take my car because Vlad insisted we take it, the damn thing is everything proof, bullet proof, bomb proof, reinforced steel, etc."
*********************
Beth's mindless chatter kept Luke busy for the entire journey to the hotel, giving Ellie ample time to process the things in her head even though she failed to find a solution to the problem called Luke. How could he keep his promise to Ethan if she distanced him from those close to her, how could she keep to their agreement without him breaking her? Of all of the people Ethan chose to confide in, he had to pick Luke.
Two of her men were waiting at the hotel, Andy and Eddy stood alongside Luke's usual bodyguards at the entrance, they seemed a little exhausted from what was likely to have been an intense workout.
"You two need to stay in the car until I say otherwise." Allowing no argument, Ellie turned and walked away from her sister and Luke leaving them to continue talking about cars and clothes, like she gave a damn that they seemed to get on well, actually they got on better than she and Luke. Why this irked her, Ellie had no idea.
As soon as she entered the lobby Ellie went into professional mode. The bellman looked her over until he saw Luke's bodyguard at which point he stepped out of the way.
"Where were the chocolates found?" Andy pointed to a table to her left whereby Ellie sat at said table and surveyed her surroundings from that angle, noting that it was discreet enough in the alcove that unless you were specifically looking you wouldn’t notice the occupant. She then wandered the lobby looking at the table from the other angles. As Theo arrived he discreetly stood to one side watching her work.
Ellie proceeded to question the receptionist, making her annoyance obvious when she was informed that a technology error had wiped out the camera footage, the woman was somewhat patronising until Ellie informed her of what the resu
lt would be if anything happened to her client. She had to question how patronising the receptionist would have been had she met Ellie all dressed up as she had been the previous evening.
The two stairwells were checked by Ellie personally before she headed to Luke's suites with Theo following behind her. To get there you had two options, a stairwell with a card activated door set on the floor below, or the elevators. Ellie activated the door to the suite and entered immediately feeling like a voyeur sneaking around.
Her first impressions made her understand how different she and Luke were, where he liked his luxuries she liked warmth and familiar, where he liked top of the range she liked comfort. To Ellie this place was cold and sterile, unlived in and uncomfortable especially the beige walls and white furniture where the only colour came from strategically hung art work, none of which worked for her.
Taking a new look she remained at the door trying to put herself in the place of a stalker, what would she see? Three doors and another leading outside, where would she head first, could you see any personal effects as soon as you entered? She couldn’t see anything remotely interesting, it was all clinical until Ellie entered what must have been Luke's bedroom, only then did she see any personalisation and that was minimal.
"If you wanted to get cosy in my bedroom you just needed to ask me, and I would have given you a truly in depth tour." Luke's voice in her ear startled her so much so that she banged her head on the door frame. "Shit, what the hell."
Turning round at Beth's laughter, she faced them both. "What part of stay in the car did you two miss?" She was annoyed and both should have taken that seriously though Beth as usual did not.
"This isn’t funny Beth, I told you to stay for a bloody reason. I will not be responsible for anything happening to you or to my future niece or nephew." Beth sobered up at her words now seeming to take them seriously.
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