Matt left and it felt like he’d taken all the warmth in the room with him. I let out a long sigh and leaned forward against the piano. What was wrong with me? I had never been tempted by a man before, not even before Dan and the massacre.
My mom would tease me about not having a boy at school that I liked. My father was glad for it, saying that it was good that I wasn’t growing up too fast. I hadn’t wanted to settle for a boyfriend when I knew for certain my mate was out there somewhere.
After three years of hell, I didn’t believe in such fairytales. Even if I had a mate somewhere, what would he ever want with a whore?
I took a deep breath and shook myself. Maybe I hadn’t been tempted and I was just sick. Maybe Alyssa’s interest in Matt was affecting me somehow. I’d have to have a serious chat with her about it. I heard Matt’s voice somewhere in the penthouse before my phone chimed with a message.
I pulled i
“What did you just say?”He took my hand, “After what happened last time, I’m not letting you go alone.”“Who said–”“So you aren’t going to Club Heaven?”“I didn’t say I was going there!”He tilted his head and looked at me the way someone would look at a child who had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar and pled innocence.He sighed and gestured towards the living room, “Shall we?”I stepped back, nervous at the way he looked at me. There was a sense of resignation in his eyes that I couldn’t place.“Why… Why are you doing this?”“I’m not stupid, Renda,” he chuckled. “4.8, remember?”I stepped back again and his eyes widened as if he was surprised that I was wary of him. He sighed and drew a hand through his hair.“I know you don’t wan
I looked up at the building and got out of the car. It was strangely unfamiliar. I had spent two years at Club Heaven, but I didn’t remember most of it.I remembered trying to escape several times. They caught me so easily. I had barely gotten down the street before they’d realized I was gone. They’d beat me and starve me for a week. I remember my handler complaining about me. Someone else had kept him from killing me and putting me up for sale to their sicker patrons because I was a werewolf and they would get more mileage out of me if I was alive.“Are you ready?”I looked at him, startled from my memories before nodding. He opened the door and ushered me inside. It was early enough that there weren’t any clients inside and the hostess looked up at us as we entered.Her eyes widened as she looked at me then she slapped on a smile as she looked at Matt.“Mr. Wallber, the boss said to take you to the meetin
What did he just say? I couldn’t have heard him right. Alyssa sat up, practically purring with happiness and desire at his words. My eyes were burning with tears, but I held them back.There had to be a trick.He didn’t know anything about who I had a grudge against or what my revenge would entail.In some ways, I didn’t even know what revenge would look like right now.“What did you say?”“I told you before I planned to make everyone responsible for hurting you pay in blood.” Matt shook his head, “I won’t be able to do that without information from you, so I need you to trust me enough to tell me enough to make that happen.”I closed my hands around the envelope as he stood.“Think on it… For now, I’ll get Cindy to take you to the archives.”“What about you?”“I’ll be shutting the club down. I can’t start i
Matt's POV I left Renda with Grace with the feeling that Grace had lied to me about her name. It was the same feeling I’d gotten when Renda had given me her name.Lucas growled If we just commanded her–No.Lucas may not know the meaning of patience, but I knew that there was no other way to get Renda’s love and trust other than to be patient.Didn’t we know better than most that being mates didn’t guarantee everlasting love? Besides, how ridiculous would it be to try and command anyone to do anything? What did Lucas think we were some ancient, all-powerful alpha?Lucas snorted, but he said nothing else.Felix was gone before I reached the bottom floor and announced that the club would be closed. The patrons looked upset but upon seeing me, they scurried out without much else to say, whispering to each other.It was good they were curious about why I was there an
I searched through the computer, trying to get my mind off of things until I found the database detailing the club’s prostitutes. I searched for Renda’s profile and growled at the photo that appeared on her profile.Her eyes were closed in the photo as if she were unconscious. She looked desperate and thin as if she’d been starved. She’d been estimated to be 16 years old when she was purchased. Her profile had several documents by the security force detailing her contract violations. Each of them was followed by a medical examination report that showed that she’d been beaten and starved.I realized that she’d been trying to escape and they dragged her back every time.Guilt filled me. If only I’d known sooner, I could have saved her from all of this.I closed the profile and shut down the computer. The sight of her injuries and her young desperate face infuriated me. Lucas was growling, howling for blood
Three days after buying Club Heaven, I brought Renda to Club Heaven and let her go with Grace to search the records for any other information they could find. Before leaving, Grace gave me coded pages and a contract to be signed along with the stamp of Club Heaven to use in place of my signature.“Be arrogant about it. She’s greedy, any promise of more work will get her to tell you things.”“What about the money?” I asked her, intrigued by her coaching. “I don’t think I can just write her a check, right?”She offered me the payment request log where I would take her banking information and banking information that Club Heaven used for these purchases. There wasn’t that much money in the account, but having the information meant I could make the transfer to the account and pay the woman from the account.The account was based in the Black Mountain pack. I hadn’t heard much about them, but I planne
I put thoughts of murder aside. One day, Ben would get what was coming to him, but it couldn’t be today. Ben was at the top of a tower of corrupted alphas and people crawling around in the underbelly of the packs.He would be the last person to deal with if I was going to get Renda her revenge and prove to her that I was worthy of her love.I left the room and sent a group of other staff members to get them checked over and settled somewhere in the building before returning to the office, I pulled out paper and sketched out a crude map of North America and marked where the packs I knew were involved were.Midnight was on the upper west coast of North America, just below where Skyfall was. Skyfall was just to the west of where a pack called Frost Pelt had once been. Luftmensch was just below Warhammer on the east coast. Blue Fire was in the Midwest. Dune was in the desert of the west coast.A knock sounded on the door as I was looking over the
I walked towards Glenda, barely registering the young women floating around the room in cocktail dresses. How many of them were party favors? Where had they come from? Were they all like Grace and Renda or had they chosen to be party favors?As I neared her, she looked at me and my heart started to race. My palms grew sweaty like I was an awkward teen again.I felt a little ridiculous being so nervous, but as I reached my hand out to her, I felt like we’d been dropped into some fucked-up fairytale.Renda looked up at me then down at my hand with a curious lift of her eyebrow.“May I have this dance?”I half expected her to reject me since Andrew was around, but she placed her hand in mine and nodded, allowing me to pull her onto the dance floor. It was a bit ironic that they were playing a waltz at a poker party, but as she followed me through the dance, I was grateful. She was relaxed and graceful.There was a bit of happi