Julianna was safe in these clothes. Invisible and unimportant to her father. The staff just thought she was an uptight bitch. It worked.
After dressing, she sat down at her vanity and wiped away the tear-streaked makeup, replacing it with a neutral palette. Then she pulled her curls into a tight bun at the base of her neck.
This was who she was. This was how she survived.
Chapter Ten
Alex paced the hallway outside Julianna’s room. The rest of his team had packed the weapons away and mostly ignored him, though they were all on edge. Maggie had been in the thirteenth-floor suite with Julianna for too long.
He needed to see her, talk to her.
“You can stop that anytime.” Andrea’s twang stopped him in his tracks. “We’re all waiting, y’know?”
“I need to get in that room.” Alex pushed his fingers into his palm.
“You need to settle the fuck down,” Dani said, glaring at him. Her dark brows pulled together. “You’re the reason all this is happening, anyway.”
“Dani.” Niko’s tone was patronizing, and he gave a small roll of his eyes. “We talked about this.”
“You talked about me?” Alex rounded on the broad-shouldered Chicago wolf.
Hannah stepped between the two of them, putting a hand on each chest. “Knock it off, both of you.”
“What did you expect?” Andrea was leaning against the wall beside the suite door, her feet stretching into the walkway. She picked at something on her fingernail. “We’ve spent days sitting around waiting while you ate fancy food and slept with the enemy.”
“Julianna isn’t the enemy.” Maggie’s voice cut through the fighting like a disciplining mother. She hung out the open door and pointed at Donovan. “I need your help.”
Alex stepped toward the room. He couldn’t see Julianna, but he could still feel her magick.
“Nope.” Maggie held out her hand to stop him. “You are not allowed in this room.”
He stepped to the side as Donovan slipped past him, but Alex kept Maggie’s gaze. She was shaking her head, but he knew her well enough to know she’d stand her ground.
“I just need to talk to her.”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you. And right now, since she’s helping us, her opinion is the one that matters.” Maggie pulled on Donovan’s shoulder and then closed the door.
Alex stared at the ceiling. He should’ve told Julianna when he’d had the chance. He’d wanted to take her out to the pool and relax, see if he could find a way to bring up the wolf thing, and then her father. Then, the mating. Only he’d been enjoying her so much, he didn’t even feel his team approaching. He’d been too focused.
What if it had been Adrian Rossi?
His fist slammed into the wall and everyone jumped. There was a dent in the plaster, around his hand, and he closed his eyes. What he wouldn’t have given for a punching bag.
“You need to settle,” Dani spat. “We’re all on edge and you’re not helping.”
“Sit down, man.” Niko put a hand on his shoulder, but Alex resisted the push to the ground. He didn’t want to sit, or settle. He wanted to fucking hit something.
Hard.
The suite door flew open and Maggie rushed out. “Niko. I need you to go down to the desk with me.”
“I’m going, too.” Julianna’s icy voice cut into Alex’s insides like a machete through water.
“Then I’m going,” Alex said. He met Maggie’s gaze and set his jaw. She could try to order him around all she wanted, but she wasn’t his boss or his alpha. Nora had been their team leader, and she’d given her power to Rain, and both of them were gone, too. So the team had no leader. Maggie was not his boss.
She gave a brusque nod. “The rest of you, go back to the room. As soon as we have access to the security room, I’ll text you so we can all meet up there.”
They were in the elevators and back in the lobby before Julianna spoke again. She had her arms crossed, and the ridiculous suit she’d changed in to was almost masculine. She looked…not like herself.
“If you don’t let me handle the staff, they’ll know something is up.” Julianna pulled her keys out of her pocket and Alex reached out with his wolf to see if he could sense anything.
Nada.
“Fine.” Maggie handed over the tablet. “But I’ll need to get back in to the mainframe to get the key card code.”
“Fine.” Julianna put the key in the main office door. She gestured for Niko to go ahead of her. “Go find the box of blank key cards,” she whispered. She touched Maggie’s shoulder and nodded toward the reception desk, which was buzzing with clerks helping new guests check in.
Maggie stood at one of the empty stations.
Niko brought the box and Julianna opened her tablet.
Alex stood in the back of the room like a bodyguard, his hands crossed, his feet wide.
But he was watching Julianna.
She made a good study of ignoring him. Her movements were almost fluid, except when he felt the magick tense between them, then she went stiff. Either she could compartmentalize well, or she really hated her father and Alex and the world, and she was very good at masking her feelings.
He’d rather have the knock-down-drag-out than the silent treatment.
Julianna and Maggie hovered over the tablet, with their backs to the rest of the clerks, and Niko inserted the key card into the reader. A light turned on in Maggie’s eyes.
Success?
She nodded at him, no more sympathy than before, and he backed out the door. If anyone asked questions of Julianna, she’d have to come up with a convincing lie as to why a couple of non-staff people and one of the waiters were in the reception area, but he didn’t imagine Maggie cared much what would happen to Julianna as a result of her helping them.
Alex cared.
They all breezed by him. Back to the elevators. They rode up to the penthouse, just like they had a week previous. Only, that’d been Tomás and Lani and Zolin instead. And when they rode the elevator down that night, one of them hadn’t come back alive.
Alex couldn’t let that person be Julianna. He had no doubt they’d lose someone—Adrian was too ruthless to leave people alive—but he couldn’t imagine losing Julianna.
A quick side glance found her doing her best ice princess. What he wouldn’t have given to be able to feel what she felt. He should’ve bonded her before she had a chance to think about it.
They reached the very top floor and the whole elevator took one big collective breath when the doors opened.
The last time, Alex had been forced to engage right away, but this time, there were no guards outside the door. Not for long, of course, because they had a feed inside the room that watched the hallway outside Adrian’s penthouse.
He’d seen the feed with his own eyes.
Julianna stepped to the door opposite the penthouse entrance before Alex realized what was happening. She had her hand out, ready to put the key card in the door.
He reached for her. “Stop,” he said. “Let us do that.”
She shook her head. “I started this, I’m going to finish it.”
Maggie put her hand on Alex’s chest. “Just stay here.”
He kept trying to walk after Julianna, but Maggie’s grip was hard.
She held her ground and stopped his forward progress. “I mean it, Alex. Stop.”
With pain choking him, Alex met her eyes. “You don’t understand, Mag. She’s my mate. I can’t leave her to do this on her own.”
The edges of Maggie’s brows came together and she sighed.
He heard the click of the door opening. In the corner of his vision, he saw someone raise a big black gun, aimed straight at Julianna.
Alex’s body slammed into Julianna’s, knocking them both clear of the doorway and the breath from her lungs. Between the sensation of falling, mixed with the heady sensation of his touch, she relaxed into his embrace. He also managed to rotate and take the brunt of the impact, kee
ping her safely tucked against his chest and sheltered from the hard marble floor.
A couple of gunshots, yelling, and some heavy thuds came from the room she’d nearly walked into.
“Why did you—”
“One of the guards was pointing a gun at you. I couldn’t lose you. Your mine.”
“I’m not.” Julianna pushed against his chest, but he held her fast.
“You are a gift from Fate Herself. I should’ve told you what was going on as soon as I knew I was falling for you. I should’ve trusted you and I’m sorry.”
A gift from Fate? Was this guy from some Lord of the Rings novel? Wait
Falling for me? So it hadn’t all been a lie?
“It doesn’t matter, Alex.” God she loved the sound of his name on her lips. The scent of him when they were this close, and the way she felt enveloped by warmth.
The way his eyes sparkled with flecks of gold when he got caught up in the moment. Everything about him was mesmerizing.
She’d forgotten over the course of her weekend with him how trapped in her life her father made sure she was. Julianna had forgotten she couldn’t have a normal life.
Alex had made her forget. Alex had caused her to make mistakes.
That couldn’t happen.
She couldn’t make mistakes.
Not around her father.
“I love you, Julianna. I went into this looking for a way to get to your father, but I came out of it knowing we belong together. I’ll spend the rest of my life proving that to you, if you’ll let me.”
Julianna didn’t respond to Alex’s declaration. She couldn’t. Not right now. Too much pain and anger fought for authority in her mind.
“It’s safe now.” Niko’s voice sliced through her thought processing. “Guards are dead.”
Alex released her and they both climbed to their feet. She entered the small security room ahead of him and froze for a second, at the sight of the two guards lying on the floor. One near the door, holding it open like a prop, and the other behind the bank of screens.
More death. How many more people were going to die this week because of her father and…these strangers?
Maggie was in the main chair tapping at the keyboard like one of those computer geeks in an action movie, rushing to beat the evil villain before they blew up the world.
God! Her father was that villain.
They said they were trying to save people.
Her eyes flew to the monitor screens. The dock at the hotel. The dock on what had to be the island. A view of the ocean from another perspective. An enormous house/mansion compound. The last monitor was split into nine boxes.
“Here are the feeds I couldn’t get to,” Maggie said. “It just looks like a big barracks…let me rewi—”
The blurred lines rewound across tiny, bouncing bodies when the lights came on. Nurseries. Children. Old women in white uniforms.
Julianna swallowed to keep the bile from entering her mouth. It was too familiar. She remembered living like that. There had been lots of children. Several older women. Her father had always said her mother died and that nurses had cared for her.
It wasn’t a lie.
“They’re his kids,” Maggie whispered. “They have to be his kids.”
Julianna’s palms dampened. “Wha—Why would you say that?”
“Julianna?” Alex’s fingertips brushed her hand.
She jerked away. “Why would you say that?” she demanded. “Why would you think all those children are his?”
“If not all, a lot of them are. It’s what he did in Guadalajara. He’d be able to feel them all. Keep tabs on them. Marco’s mom was flippin’ out because she was worried Adrian would find them. It’s the familial bond. That’s probably how he found Elise’s mom in Lousiana. But these kids are a second generation.”
All eyes in the room turned toward Maggie.
“Meaning what?” Niko asked.
“Meaning not only can he keep tabs on the mothers. He can keep tabs on the children. He would’ve learned from the escape at Guadalajara.”
“Guadalajara?” She looked from Niko to Maggie, her stomach churning. “You said this happened thirty years ago? That he’s done this before?” Julianna pointed at the monitor with a shaking hand. “I remember growing up like that, but I would’ve remembered if he called those other kids his. He told me I was his only child.” Julianna gasped and grabbed for the countertop. Alex was supporting her in an instant. His arm wrapped around her waist. “What does this all mean? How—? Is he some kind of cult polygamist?” Her breaths turned to short pants.
“Worse than that,” Maggie said over her shoulder.
Worse? “What could possibly be worse? Who the hell are you people…really?”
“Think about it. Where are the mothers?” Niko said, catching Julianna’s gaze as he stepped closer to Maggie.
Julianna’s eyes flew to the monitors. There were no women on them. The nurses were too old to be mothers to the children in the nursery rooms. Her father had told her for years that her mother was dead. What if she wasn’t? What if she really wasn’t who she thought she was?
She straightened her shoulders and breathed deeply. She needed to know what her father was doing. “I can get you onto that island, but shouldn’t we just call in the police? They can arrest him. We have proof with these feeds now.”
Maggie swiveled in the computer chair. Her face was grim and her eyes flashed with the same gold flecks she’d seen in Alex’s.
Strange.
“No police. It’s not safe,” Maggie snapped.
Not safe?
Alex wasn’t part of Maggie’s family, but he knew the this is your mess, fix it look even though he couldn’t sense anything through the magick. And Julianna was spiraling. She had that twitchy look that happened in someone’s first fight—like she might bolt at any moment.
“You’ve probably heard stories about Mexican police,” Julianna said, “but they’re actually quite responsive in Choaca. It’s the American tourism.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Maggie turned back to the computers. “Alex.”
He pushed a breath through his nostrils. “I don’t want to do this in front of everyone. Julianna and I need to have a—”
A shimmery flash, and where Niko had been, stood a big, brown wolf with a red undercoat.
Julianna’s mouth dropped open by degrees, then clapped shut. She backed into the door, shaking her head.
“Dammit, Niko.” Alex swatted at the wolf and took a step toward Julianna, his hands out like he was calming one of the young men from the school, the first time they shifted. “It’s okay, Julianna. I promise.”
“Niko, shift back right now.” Maggie flipped out her phone. “I’ll text everyone else to come up here and get into the mainframe for the elevator. We have to all talk about this.” She pointed to Alex. “You. Her. Now.”
He swung his head from side to side, trying to keep back his anger. He’d been planning how to break this to Julianna since he’d first realized she was human. Niko was an ass for forcing his hand.
“This isn’t happening.” She crushed herself against the door. “I’m dreaming or hallucinating. This isn’t real.”
Alex stretched his hand out and grazed her arm. She pulled away, into the hallway, and he followed.
“We’re werewolves, don’t tell anyone,” Maggie yelled after them. “There, how hard was that?”
“There’s more to it than that.” Alex kept trying to touch Julianna, to comfort her, but she moved just far enough that he couldn’t quite get to her. Before long, they were back by the elevators, and she was hugging herself against the wall and mumbling in whispers.
“I knew there was something,” she kept repeating, and when she hit the elevator door, she finally had nowhere else to turn.
He had his hand on her arm before she could shimmy away, and her eyes widened and met his.
“Look, in my defense, I thought you were a wolf, too.” He moved his
fingers across her skin in a slow rhythm. “And I spent the rest of the time after I found out, trying to figure out how you could be your father’s daughter, and not be a wolf.”
“How did you know?” Julianna’s voice wavered and she straightened her neck.
“We can sense each other’s wolves. I knew as soon as I met you, only the ma—”
“No. How did you know I wasn’t my father’s daughter?”
He took in a breath. “Wolf males always have wolf children. So when I knew you weren’t a wolf, we went digging.”
“So you did a DNA test on me?” She looked down at his hand and bit her lip. “And I was some kind of means to an end.”
“Julianna, please…” Alex pulled her toward him, but she wouldn’t budge. He wanted more than anything to have his arms around her. “I wasn’t even supposed to sleep with you. Your rules were so…complete. I never thought you’d sleep with me right away. We needed to get into this room, so I was supposed to find your tablet, and then get out.”
She choked out a laugh and flickered her gaze up to the ceiling. “But when you saw how easy I was, you just—”
“No.” He put as much force behind the word as he could muster, and her shoulders dropped. Alex put his hands on her arms and stood close to her, pinning her. “Don’t cheapen what happened between us by demeaning yourself. Or me.”
“Then, what?” Julianna struggled against his grip. “You realize, you had me up against that window in about thirty seconds flat. What am I supposed to think?”
He ground his teeth. “That I can’t control myself when I’m around you. That there’s a magick between us that makes you take down your walls and makes me crazy to be near you…” He dropped his voice to a gravelly whisper. “To be inside you.”
Her eyelids flared and she made the slightest dip toward him. Before she could come all the way, he had pressed his lips onto hers, drawing her mouth open, sliding his tongue in, tasting her.
It was home.
When he moved his hands to her cheeks, he found them wet and pulled away. Her eyes were red, and she stared at him with such confusion, he forced himself to show some restraint.
Seducing a Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Five Page 8