“But she might not even know that she’s working with one.”
“We’re not human. We can spot a Vampire easily, and believe me, Ezie wouldn’t get close enough to one to let them work their powers on her.”
“I hope I’m wrong,” Ash muttered.
Hunter stepped closer to her. “Spill it. What do you know that I don’t?” he asked in a low voice.
Ash shifted her eyes, making sure no one was around them. “I shouldn’t say anything. Not before I talk to Clarissa.”
He growled. “Tell me what you know.”
She jumped slightly. “I think Erzsebet has been stealing millions of dollars from the company and it’s been going on for almost a year.”
Hunter shook his head, not believing what he’d just heard. “That can’t be true. This company is her everything. She’s been here since the beginning. She would never steal from it.”
Ash extended a hand as if she was going to rub his arm but then pulled away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything, and I don’t know why I just did. When I tell Clarissa what I found, she’ll be able to verify it.”
Hunter shook his head. “No, you can’t tell her. Not yet.”
“I have to. It’s my job.”
“It has to be a mistake. We’re wolves. We can’t hide anything from our Alpha, not for long anyway. If what you said is true, then Andras would’ve known about it immediately. She can’t be involved in this—not the lies, deceit and definitely not with Vampires involved. Someone is setting her up. Give me some time to investigate.”
Ash chewed on her bottom lip. “I-I don’t know.”
“Please, Ash. This can’t taint her reputation. If she’s compromised in any way, Andras will ban her from the Pack. As a female wolf, Erzsebet would never be able to survive on her own.” She would most likely die of loneliness. Lone males fared better without a Pack than females did.
“I’ll have to think about it.”
They walked back to the conference room in silence. When they entered Clarissa and the others were already there.
“You’re early,” Hunter said.
“Yes, sorry for the inconvenience. We wanted to begin right away so we can finish our job,” Clarissa said in that high-pitched voice that grated on Hunter’s nerves.
Ash put her head down and walked over to her seat and slid into it without making a sound.
“Asha?” Clarissa called. “Do you have any new developments today?”
Hunter’s heart slammed against his rib cage.
Ash looked up at Clarissa, her face impassive. “No, Clarissa. Not yet.”
Chapter Nine
The next morning, a knock sounded at the door. Ash ignored it. She squeezed her eyes tighter, hoping to reclaim the dream that she’d been pulled from.
She’d been lying under Hunter, with him settled between her open legs. He’d been making love to her, softly and sweetly. He’d given her complete access to his body, where she could run her hands across his strong muscles, kiss him in places that she’d only heard about and do things to him that she’d seen in movies. In her dream, she was an experienced lover who brought him to pleasure over and over again.
Another knock sounded.
Her dream was gone. She opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling.
More knocking.
She turned to her side and glanced at Clarissa’s coffin. There could’ve been a million people wanting to break down the door and the Vampire wouldn’t hear a thing.
The first time she’d seen Clarissa climb into her coffin, she’d been in awe. Real-life Vampires existed and she had one as her very own protector. Clarissa had put a bed in her private room just for Ash and instructed her not to ever open her coffin or disturb her while she slept. Clarissa had made her feel so protected that first night. She had been her savior. Ash had spent the entire day sitting on the floor by Clarissa’s coffin, waiting for her to wake up again. When the sun had gone down and Clarissa emerged, she’d laughed at Ash and assured her that she had nothing else to worry about anymore.
That had been one of the few times Clarissa’s laugh had been genuine.
But what Clarissa had failed to mention was that from then on, Clarissa would be the cause of all Ash’s worries.
More knocking.
Ash sighed and rolled out of bed. She walked around Clarissa’s coffin and from the room. Before reaching the stairs, she passed two other rooms where she knew, behind the closed doors, were more coffins and more sleeping Vampires. She made her way downstairs and to the front door. She looked through the peep hole. Hunter.
There was no way she should’ve opened the door to him. With the others asleep, she shouldn’t answer the door for anyone. Not while they were as vulnerable as they were.
“I hear you on the other side, Ash. Open up. I just want to talk.”
She’d been doing one stupid thing after the other. Why stop now? She opened the door for him. “What are you doing here?”
He thrust his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans. “Thank you.”
She frowned. “For what?”
“Um, for not saying anything about Erzsebet.”
She shrugged. “You asked me not to.”
“Yeah, but I saw how they exact their punishment on you.”
He didn’t know the half of it. She folded her arms and leaned against the door. “I’ll have to tell them eventually. I don’t know why I didn’t then.”
“Whatever the case. I owe you.”
“So why was it so important that I not say anything? If Erzsebet can’t hide anything from Andras then she should be able to explain why I found fifteen million dollars in her personal checking account.”
Hunter’s mouth fell open.
Ash nodded. “Yeah, that’s a lot of money. Then in the blink of an eye”—she snapped her fingers together—“it was transferred out of her account.”
“Our parents left us money when they died and she probably invested it in stocks and bonds.” It sounded more as though he tried to convince himself than her.
“She’ll have to explain it to Andras.”
He let out a defeated breath. “Honestly, Ash, I can’t say for sure if she has anything to do with the embezzlement or not. My heart says no, but she’s been acting so strange and not being herself. I just need time to figure out what’s going on with her.”
There was so much pain and confusion in his voice. It was apparent that he loved his sister and didn’t have any trouble with showing it. She wanted to console him, like she’d wanted to last night, but in the end, she’d kept her hands to herself. As she would now.
“I understand what you want to do, but time is something that you don’t have a lot of. I won’t be able to hold on to this information forever.”
“I know.” Something beeped and he retrieved his phone from his pocket. “That’s why I put a GPS on her car.” He held up his phone. “She’s leaving work in the middle of the day. This time, I don’t have to follow her. I can just wait until she gets to her destination and find out what she’s doing.”
He turned to bound down the steps.
“Hey, wait,” she called out to him. “I’m going with you.”
He nodded toward the house. “What about Clarissa?”
She peered over her shoulder, half expecting Clarissa to be there. “She’s asleep. I risked my life for you. I at least get to see what I risked it for.”
“Okay.”
She hadn’t expected him to give in so easily, but welcomed that she didn’t have to fight him about it. “Give me ten minutes to dress.”
She closed and locked the door then ran upstairs. She hurried and brushed her teeth and washed her face and only spent a few minutes to style her hair in a single braid down her back.
When she left, she closed and locked the door behind her. She started down the front steps and stopped short at the last one. Hunter was on a motorcycle. He was the epitome of the bad-boy type. Jeans molded to his thick thighs. A gray T-s
hirt stretched across his broad shoulders, muscular chest and well-defined abs. His arms were overly beefy like Ricko’s and Rocko’s, but arms that she would love to hold and grip.
“I guess I should’ve told you that I had a motorcycle. Do you need a few more minutes to change?”
She glanced down at her outfit. Business suit and heels. Hardly motorcycle attire. “This is all I have.”
“It’ll have to do, then.” He held a helmet out to her. “I only have the one. You can wear it.”
That was enough to snap her out of her daze. She walked over to him and took the helmet he offered. “How do I wear it?”
“You’ve never put on a helmet before?”
She shook her head. She’d never had a need for one before.
Hunter swung a thigh over the motorcycle to stand in front of her. He took the helmet from her hands and placed it on her head then snapped the straps under her chin. “So, does this mean that you’ve also never ridden a motorcycle?”
“Never had the opportunity.”
He adjusted the helmet, making sure it was tight enough and wouldn’t fall off. “Well, that is very sad, indeed. I’ll have to make sure to show you a good time.” He smiled down at her, showing pearly whites. “On my bike, that is.”
He settled on his seat and patted the space behind him.
She swung her leg over the seat and settled in.
“You’re too far away. Pretend like we’re lovers and get real close.” His smooth voice oozed sex appeal.
She did as instructed, pressing herself against him. Heat radiated from his body. “I’m ready.”
He sighed and grabbed her hands to make her wrap her arms around his waist.
“Oh,” she said. “We’re getting real familiar with each other.”
“I told you, pretend like we’re lovers or else you’ll fall off.”
‘Lovers.’ I guess now wouldn’t be the time to tell him that I’ve never had one of those. “Okay.”
“Hold tight.”
She clasped her hands together and squeezed her eyes shut as they began to move.
They started off slow, but that didn’t last long. They were soon going so fast that the wind whipped around her body. She giggled as the cold rush of air made her skin tingle. She felt every move of his body, no matter how slight—the way he leaned to the side when they turned corners, the jerk of his leg as he switched gears and his stomach rising and falling with the breaths he took.
He was right. This was intimate. In the past two days, she’d been more intimate with him than she’d been with anyone before and she hated for it to end.
But end it did, for the moment. Hunter pulled into a parking space across the street from a bank. He cut the engine and straddled the bike between his thighs, holding them upright.
He took out his cell phone. “The GPS has her inside the bank.” He scanned the bank parking lot. “There’s her car.”
The door to the bank opened and Erzsebet came out. She had her head down and focused on the paper that she held. Ash watched as she went to a truck and climbed inside.
“See? She knows something is going on with her bank account. She has to.”
When the truck maneuvered out into traffic, Hunter followed three cars behind her. They followed her to a strip mall. Hunter made sure to park far away from where she had.
Erzsebet went into one of those chain lingerie stores that Ash had never dreamed of visiting. She had no reason to wear any of those lacy undergarments. There wasn’t a special man in her life. There had never been time for dating. While most women her age were determined to find a husband and have kids, she’d had other plans.
Hunter didn’t say anything as he watched the store.
“Why isn’t she going straight to Andras to show him her statements?” Ash asked.
“I-I don’t know. Maybe that money was hers?”
Judging from the sound of his voice, Hunter really didn’t believe what he’d said, either. Ash held her tongue.
Erzsebet emerged thirty minutes later and again they followed her, but this time, she led them back the way they’d come and when she turned down a single lane dirt road, Hunter kept going for another three miles then pulled over.
“Are we done following her?” Ash asked.
“Yeah, she’s going home.”
“So what now?”
“I wish I knew.”
“Hunter, I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “I have faith in my sister. I’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“I can probably hold them off until tomorrow, but that’s it.”
He nodded. “I understand.”
“Can you take me back home? I have to get ready for work.”
He turned and sniffed her.
She recoiled. “Hey, don’t do that.”
“You smell like me. Are they the breathing type of Vamps?”
Vampires didn’t need to breathe but knowing Clarissa she would take a deep breath and question why the house smelled like mongrel. “I can’t go home smelling like you.” She looked at her watch. “How about you drop me off at Dark Wolf Enterprises instead?” She would be a few hours early, but she would rather be early than risk another handcuff punishment.
“Good idea. But can we eat first? I’m starving. Are you hungry?”
She was starving. “I’m fine. I can get something from the vending machine at work.”
“Vending machine?” He tsked under his breath. “I make a mean cheese omelet. We’ll stop by my place first.”
“Um…sure.” I really should say no, but when was the last time I had an omelet? A year or two ago?
He got on his bike and Ash settled onto the spot behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him tightly.
Men were trouble. And the way her body reacted to his should have reminded her of that fact.
Chapter Ten
“Arany. That’s an unusual last name. Does it mean anything?”
She fumbled with her hands, which she had thrust under the table. She’d been fidgeting since they’d arrived at his apartment. It’d been a long time since she’d had to make small talk. The Vampires didn’t appreciate unnecessary chatter, but Hunter seemed to enjoy the sound of his voice and hers. And frankly, whenever the conversation had a lull she took the time to second guess the reason for being inside his apartment.
He had his back to her and leaned over the four-burner stove. He wiped his hands on the white dish towel draped across his shoulder then reached for the salt and pepper.
“It’s Hungarian, meaning golden. The name has history with my family. In wolf form our coat is a goldish-brown color.”
“That’s cool. I mean the Hungarian part.” She shifted in her seat. “And I guess the golden coat part, too. So, does that mean you’re Hungarian or…?”
He chuckled and turned to watch her. “Yes, that’s where our family is from.”
“All Wolf-Shifters are from Hungary?”
“Huh? No, just us in this Pack. Shifters are from all over the world.” He turned back to the stove to flip the omelet. “A while ago, I think about fifty years now, Andras broke off from his father’s Pack and decided to form a new one here. Some of us, myself included, came with him.”
“Fifty years ago?” He didn’t appear that old. “What were you, a baby then?”
He laughed. “A pup.”
The image of a wolf cub popped into her head. “No way.”
He laughed harder. “Not a puppy. A pup is just a saying. It means young. I was almost sixty years old at the time. Still considered young for my kind.”
“And you’re how old now?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.
“One hundred and ten at the last birthday that I remember.” He frowned and tilted his head to the side. “Maybe I turned one hundred and twelve?” Then he shrugged. “Somewhere around there.”
“Um, so that’s ancient.”
“Are you calling me old, woman?” he asked with a smile.
&nb
sp; She couldn’t help but to smile back. “Yes.”
He used a spatula to pick up an omelet and slipped it onto a plate. “Good thing for you that my feelings don’t get hurt easily or else I’d have to eat this wonderful omelet by myself.”
As he sauntered over to her, with plate in hand, she took a deep breath and her mouth watered as the aroma of onions, tomatoes, cheese and eggs hit her nostrils. “That smells wonderful.”
When he held the plate out to her she practically snatched it from him, making the fork fall onto the floor.
“Whoa, slow down. It’s not going anywhere,” he joked.
“Sorry, I’m hungrier than I thought.” When she started for the utensil, he stopped her.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll get you another.”
“Thanks,” she said as he leaned down to get it for her.
He stopped and took a long sniff at the air.
“What the heck are you doing? Are you smelling me again?” This wasn’t the same kind of sniff that he’d given her earlier. This one was longer, more sensual and she swore he had shivered as he did.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. You smell…delectable.”
She pressed her knees together, unsure of exactly how she should feel about being sniffed. “Just…just don’t do that again.”
He looked up at her. “Why not?”
She was mortified. “Why? Because, because it’s not proper. One does not go around sniffing other people’s crotches. It’s rude.”
“Not for Wolf-Shifters.”
“I. Am. Not. A. Wolf-Shifter.”
“I’m well aware of that fact.” He dropped to his knees and she scooted her chair back so fast that she tipped to fall. Just as fast, he reached out and caught the chair legs and righted her before she tumbled backward.
“I should probably say thank you, but I’m not going to.”
“No need to thank me.”
She stared down at him positioned between her legs. How could she close them if he had his body wedged there?
“So, um, can you move now?”
“No, I was thinking that I could eat, while you eat.”
She nodded toward the stove. “That was the plan. That’s why you made two omelets, right?”
Hunter Claimed (Dark Wolf Enterprises Book 3) Page 8