2

An hour later she was dressed in a white form-fitting gown with short sleeves and a slit that went up to her left knee. Her brown hair fell in natural waves over her shoulders. She had applied a touch of make-up. Cathy was not the kind of girl who thought too much about her appearance, for one thing, she used to be a tomboy and was still making the transition from tomboy to girly girl. But if you knew Cathy you knew she gave attention to her appearance now because of what happened with Asher.

Asher was the only man she ever loved which was uncharacteristic of her because Cathy did not believe in love. She was a sensible girl and she was very sensible when she suggested sex with no strings attached to Asher. And it had gone well until Maggie Dark Storm came rushing in with her money and damsel in distress act.

No, Cathy thought as she descended the stairs that would take her to the large dining room. That was unfair to Maggie. Maggie had been in trouble and Asher had helped her, it wasn’t Maggie’s fault that she and Asher had fallen in love with each other. Too deep in love that Cathy was completely wiped out of the picture.

Now Maggie had two mates and the three of them ruled the pack while Cathy had no one.

Once again Cathy mentally shook her head. No that wasn’t entirely true. It wasn’t that she had no one, she was just not interested in anyone. Besides, love was an unnecessary emotion too fickle to last and sometimes so strong it was almost like a trap.

She had the club. She loved the club. It was her baby.

“Morning, you look good, Cathy,” Maggie said as she came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of toast.

Cathy smiled. “Thanks. I took your advice.”

“And it’s working. I won’t be surprised if you have to knock a few men off you.”

“I will be knocking more than a few men off you if they stare for too long.”

Cathy’s heart skipped an involuntary beat. It wasn’t that she was still in love with Asher, it was just hard to let go of what she once had with him. He came out from behind her wearing a smile but the hand he dropped on her shoulder was brotherly and the smile he flashed Maggie’s way was sexy in the way he never smiled at her before. Lance was right behind him and both men, as always, vied for Maggie's attention.

Cathy felt envy’s sharp tug at her heart. Maybe jealousy was that green-eyed monster chasing her through the woods in her dreams, maybe it wasn’t Theodore fucking Cyneric.

Thankfully, the other pack members who lived in the mansion like her brothers Chase and Carl ( they were triplets and she was the oldest of the three by a few hours), Ginny, Leo, Steph, Noah, and the others were not downstairs yet so there was no one to see the pinched look on her face.

She cleared her throat and both men stopped showering a laughing Maggie with kisses and turned to look at her. She forced a smile.

“While you lovebirds are at it, I gotta go to work before I puke.”

They laughed at her joke.

But she wasn’t joking. Her belly was rolling so without grabbing anything to eat from the table, she grabbed the car keys, clutched her purse tighter, and left.

The drive to Phoenix’s Claws was a long one but with the windows down and the wind in her air, she enjoyed the ride and began to plan the day. The club which was once exclusively open to wolves now accepted humans and sometimes even vampires, shapeshifters, dragons and werecats. They were accepted in the club on the condition that they kept the peace.

Phoenix’s Claws was the largest wolf–owned club in the Red Light district. Under Cathy’s management, it was flourishing far better than any of the clubs in the area and Cathy was beginning to think about extending the establishment into hotels and resorts.

She was so occupied by her plans for the club that she almost passed the exit that would take her to the Red Light district and was lucky enough to arrive just in time to see the delivery guys bringing trucks of drinks for the opening later that night.

She got out of the car noting that her assistant Taylor and another assistant, Darren, were standing on the curb looking worried.

“What’s up?” Cathy asked as she walked away from her car toward the truck. Their response was to glance at the delivery guys.

The men were dropping crates and cartons of drinks on the curb.

Cathy counted the drinks and frowned. “I ordered more than a truck of these,” she told the men as she inspected the items. “Besides, you are late.”

“Can’t say that’s our fault when there was a long delay at the warehouse,” one of them answered offhandedly.

Cathy bit her bottom lip hard to stem her rising anger. “Your boss told me you would be here as early as 7 this morning and this is,” she checked her watch. “15 minutes past 8.”

“You can talk to the boss if you want to discuss the time.”

As they dropped the last carton of drinks, Cathy caught them giving her lecherous glances, their eyes roaming her body boldly. Darren caught their eyes too and started to step forward to fight for her when Cathy held him back.

“Don’t worry, I got this.”

She stepped closer to the men. “Get these drinks out of my sight.”

“You paid for them, you gotta keep them. No return policy.”

“No return policy? Alright then, get my money back this instant.”

The one who looked like their leader laughed and when he opened his mouth she could see he was missing a tooth and his teeth were darkened.

A smoker.

His dark gaze trailed her body. “You are a pretty cunt with a big mouth. I’ll bring your fucking drinks if you join me in the back of that truck. Just one minute.”

Cathy raised her brow. “One minute? That’s your max?”

He bit his bottom lip and laughed, looking back at his pals and they laughed too. Smoked Teeth grabbed his crotch and made an obscene gesture.

“One minute is all it takes and you’ll be begging me to fuck you for the rest of your life, Miss Prim.”

He suddenly let out a squeal as someone grabbed his neck from behind, lifting him easily off the ground. His companions had stopped laughing and stared in fear at the man who grabbed their leader by the neck.

Cathy was staring too but not with surprise or joy. If anything she was more irritated than she had been when she woke up that morning because the man who had come to her rescue was the same in her dreams, the last person she wanted to see.

Theodore Cyneric.

Gorgeous Theodore Cyneric.

And he wasn’t alone. His side kicks Teddy and Max, a mountain of a man, faced the other delivery guys menacingly.

“Let me go!” Smoked Teeth screamed as he flailed his arms and legs in the air. One look had Theodore made his mouth drop. "The Hunter?"

“Apologize to the lady,” Theodore commanded.

“I don’t need his apology and I don’t need you…” Cathy started.

“One second, darling,” Theodore interrupted her, his green eyes going from unforgiving dark emeralds to teasing pools in one second. His lips quirked up in a smile as he took in her appearance. “You look hot, love.”

Cathy struggled to keep her anger down but it was so hard when he was being so cocky again. She couldn’t deal with his arrogance and he seemed to have a lot of it when he was around her. Yet her body grew warm at his compliment.

The man’s ego was larger than his head and shoulders combined.

And to think this was the same man who abducted her a few months ago!

“Mr. Cyneric…”

“Theodore.” And just like that, he went back to ignoring her. “Take your trash and get the fuck out of here right now or I will bust your skull,” he ordered Smoked Teeth and roughly threw the man against his truck.

Smoked Teeth scrambled to his feet in fear and stumbled as he hurried to get behind the wheels of his truck. His companions were not far behind him and in the blink of an eye they were gone, leaving their drinks behind.

Cathy threw her hands in the air. “Great! Now they have the rest of my money and I have half my orders.”

“Teddy get Frank to get three trucks of our best wine and beers over here now.”

Teddy went off to carry out his order while Theodore wiped his hands and with a smirk winked at Taylor who despite her boss’s obvious dislike of the man, blushed.

Cathy rolled her eyes. The man was a charmer but she knew the truth about him. He was a dangerous Hunter who abducted and slit throats for a living. The kind of person she didn’t want around her.

“Taylor, Darren, get back inside and make sure the others are working.”

They obeyed her but not before sharing glances first with each other then with Theodore.

As soon as they were gone Cathy scowled and crossed her arms. “Get off my property.”

Biting his lower lip, his green eyes turning molten with unconcealed desire, he came closer towering over her. It was one of the million things that irritated her about him. He was hot. There was no denying it. Not after her dreams about him. But he didn’t have to have this effect on her, he didn’t have to look at her that way. It made her feel – she didn’t even want to think about how he made her feel.

He must have seen the look in her eyes because his smile turned predatory.

“I wish I could, love, but you and I have unfinished business.”