Kinsey peered over her shoulder for what felt like the hundredth time this morning. Damon had scared the absolute daylights out of her yesterday. He also brought up a lot of questions--like how the hell did he find out where she lived?? No one was supposed to know where she was staying. Sabrina swore up and down that she hadn't told anyone, and Kinsey was inclined to believe her. She would never betray her like that.
Instead, her own body had betrayed her. She had meant to be braver in front of him. But he had caught her off guard, and those dark green eyes and that imposing frame had cleared her mind of all rational thought. He extruded masculine power and primal strength.
It was the hottest thing she had ever seen.
There he was, standing before her, quite possibly the second most powerful man in Wensworth, demanding she return his calls. She still didn't know why he wanted her to answer him, but she secretly hoped it was because he found her as attractive as she found him and not because he wanted to her to give him Carissa's number so he could be all big and imposing on her.
She sighed hopelessly. Who was she kidding? He probably wanted her help to stop the very same wedding she helped plan yesterday.
Buck up, Kinsey. There are more things going on than a hot shifter stalking you in your life.
That's right. Kinsey had signed her contract yesterday. She was offically a member of the Bane Corporation. Had her own keycard to prove it.
This morning, she stood in front of the Bane Building with said keycard, a small thrill dancing in her veins. This was it. The beginning of her career.
Excited, she used the card to pass through the security system in the foyer. However, she was only allowed to take two steps passed the gate when a man from behind the security desk called out to her. He rose to his full height--which seemed to be as tall as this building--and blocked her path to the elevator.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To the seventh floor?" Carissa had told her to find Carlisle on the seventh floor and he would give her an orientation.
His gaze quickly swept over her, assessing, gauging. She didn't appreciate the flat, lifeless look in his dark eyes; they were pitch black, a bottomless pool of smoke covering his iris. She'd never seen eyes like his before. Except for demons on TV.
She swallowed. "I work here."
Snorting, he took her arm and dragged her into a purely white office and stuffed her on a metal chair. He paced the length of the room. "How did you get access to this building?"
Trying not to let this delay ruin her mood, she handed him her keycard. "Carissa gave this to me yesterday when I signed my contract."
He inspected the blank card. It was only a temporary card until Kinsey could get her permanent one. Carissa had explained to her that she would have to get her picture taken during orientation then they would make her a new card with her picture on it.
He growled at her, eyes flashing like a shifter's, except there was no light shining in them. She wondered how that was possible.
"Name?" he demanded curtly.
"Kinsey Ashe."
He narrowed his eyes on her a moment then spun on his heel for the door. She watched him pull out a cellphone before the door slammed shut.
She glanced down at her phone nervously, half expecting Damon to call. This time, she was inclined to pick up, if only so she could scream into the microphone if the security man came back to hurt her. She didn't know what Damon would do if he heard her scream, but she would like to think he was a good enough person to at least send the cops here to help her.
Time ticked on by and her scary new friend hadn't returned. She was starting to think he had forgotten about her, but then Victor came through the steel door. He smiled warmly at her, holding his hand out to her. She took it, grateful to see a familiar face, and followed him out of the holding area. She shuddered once they were a comfortable distance away from that thug.
"Thanks for coming to get me," she mumbled, peering around the huge foyer. It was encased in glass and was as tall as the tenth story. Sunlight came through the glass ceiling, hitting the grey shiny floors and silver frame of the door they went through to get to the main part of the building.
This part was far more enclosed, a narrow white corridor with offices on either side. Two elevators awaited them at the end of the long hallway.
Victor pressed the button to call for the elevator then chucked her chin. "When I heard you were here, I couldn't believe it. I had to see it for myself."
She scrunched her nose at him, insulted. "Why's that so hard to believe?"
"Carissa insists on having weekends off. I assumed you were the same. But you're a go-getter like me, aren't you?"
A flutter of kinship welled in her chest. It was then when she realised she hadn't truly talked to Victor since he started dating Carissa. He was always just leaving whenever she came in.
"Carissa said this was important to you, so I thought I should start on it as soon as possible. I'm here to collect a few pieces of equipment to begin my survey."
Even in the harsh white light, his eyes dazzled. "Wonderful. I knew you would be perfect for this job."
The elevator door popped open; they stepped inside. Her eyes temporarily bugged when she saw all the levels on the dash; the building was thirty stories, but there were ten levels below the main floor as well. The subfloors were accessible via a special key she didn't have.
As soon as the doors shut, he closed the gap between them, slipping an arm around her back, and kissed the top of her head. "I can't wait to work with you, Kinsey. If you're anything like your sister, you'll be a fine addition to the team."
"Thanks Victor." She tried to hide her blush; he didn't know how little people praised her, let alone compared her to Carissa in a positive light. It meant the world to her.
The doors pinged open. "This is your stop. I look forward to reading your report."
"See you around, Victor." She stepped out into another long white hallway. Carissa had told her she would talk to Carlisle Smithers on the seventh floor and he would be able to help her sign her equipment out. She found a door with Carlisle's name stamped on it and knocked. A wiry man with bushy white eyebrows opened the door. He scowled at her, creating a valley of wrinkles on his forehead. "Who are you?"
"Kinsey Ashe? Carissa said you were to expect me."
Recognition swam into his cloudy grey eyes. He blinked. "She said you were coming in on Monday."
Kinsey shrugged, offering him a disarming smile. She was just relieved he knew she was coming. "I wanted to start as soon as possible."
The man eyed her warily, but then found the keycard hanging around her neck and relaxed instantly, as if having the keycard decided if he would help her or not. It was a little strange, but with all the developments going on, one could never be too wary.
Carlisle stepped aside, opening the door further for her. "Come with me." He led her across his lab to a closet in the corner. It was lined to the ceiling with shelves, holding all sorts of equipment. He grabbed a GPS, a log book, and a few other essentials for her to start her survey.
"Do I need to give you intrustruction on anything?"
She studied each piece of equipment before tucking it into a backpack. They were different models from the ones she had used in university, newer and smaller, but they all shared similar traits. "I'll be okay. Where do I sign them out?"
He pulled a clipboard off the wall and handed it to her. She filled it out then swung the pack onto her shoulders.
"Remember, if you break anything, it'll come out of your paycheck."
With that lovely goodbye, she smiled thinly at him and left the lab. Thankfully, due to the building's uniform and slightly underwhelming--considering all the amazing advances that came from this place--layout, Kinsey easily found her way out, holding her backpack especially close when she passed security.
According to the contract, they needed her to survey Grimrock Woods. Fortunately, Kinsey went hiking the trails every Saturday; she was familiar with the area and felt confident traversing the forest alone.
She pulled into the parking lot at the base of the mountain and quickly took a few notes beforehand, noting the weather and time of day. It had been colder when she first set off this morning and the clear skies told her it would only get warmer, so she stuffed her gloves in the pack and shedded out of her winter coat, opting for her favourite hoodie. After a quick bag check, she set off for the trail, GPS in hand. The contract had a set of coordinates off-trail where they were most interested in; from there she would have to go where the evidence took her.
She followed the trail as far as she could then stepped off the well-trodden path, stomping on ferns as she went. The further she trekked, the more aware she became of all the sounds around her. Every bird call, every skitter across the forest floor. Insects buzzing in the treetops.
Suddenly, it all stopped. The air around her seemed to still.
It was just her imagination. Right? She hadn't heard of any bear or cougar sightings recently. Rightfully so. It was too late into the season. The bears should be hibernating.
Nevertheless, she trudged forward until she reached her coordinates. She scanned the area and soon found the prints Carissa must want her to track. Wolf.
Okay, maybe not her imagination.
But they weren't ordinary prints. A regular wolf's paw wouldn't be that big. It was a shifter's print. Carissa wanted her to track shifters. Why?
Tucking it away in her mind for later, she pressed on, taking a photo of the print with a ruler on the horizontal and vertical axis for scale. She marked it with a small red flag then searched for more.
She followed the tracks, marking them with a flag and inputting the coordinates in the GPS. When she found a different set of prints--a cougar--she marked them with a different colour flag and coordinate name.
After hours of following the wolf's prints, she found ten other prints trailing behind it, of various species, as if the wolf was the leader. She had heard that the shifter community followed the dominance hierarchy, but there was no proof behind it aside from saying they were animals.
Actually, there weren't any papers out on shifters.
It wasn't exactly what Carissa had in mind, but Kinsey couldn't waste the opportunity to study them. Maybe put a paper out on them. This could be the big thing she was looking for-
Her cellphone rang. In the silence of the forest, the noise was deafening and she jumped out of her socks. Hastily, she moved to fetch it from her pack. Her heart skipped when she saw the contact. Damon. Again.
She swallowed, remembering his surprise visit yesterday. Either talk to him on your terms or his.
She much prefered to do it on hers.
She pressed the green button and put the speaker to her ear. "He-hello?"
She could hear him smile. "You picked up."
"You didn't really give me much of a-"
Suddenly, Damon was the least of her worries. A branch snapped behind her. She whirled around--and screamed. She was face to face with a panther!
She staggered back, bumping into a fury wall. A cougar! She screamed again then the panther shifted into a--very naked--man with jet black skin. Her eyes shot up to the canopy since the man wasn't in any rush to cover himself up. She could feel his smirk on her. The cougar behind her found less amusement in her abashment and growled in her ear.
"Who are you?" the panther shifter demanded. He stood in front of her, giving her no choice but to look at him and his hulking form.
She swallowed, staring into his golden eyes. "Kinsey Ashe," she squeaked.
Grunting, he snatched the GPS out of her trembling hands. The snarl that came out of his throat made her hop back--into the cougar who was also growling at the insignia stamped on the back of the GPS.
"You work for the Bane Corporation." It was an accusation, a curse the way he made it sound.
"I-I do."
The man's fists tightened at his sides. Kinsey squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for him to strike her. After a moment, she opened her eyes. The man was gone. He had taken her cellphone and was speaking to someone on the other line. Maybe Damon if he hadn't hung up already.
"H-hey! That's my phone!" She moved to take it back from him, but the cougar knocked her down with its heavy paws. Its hot breath trickled down her neck, waiting--begging, really--for her to fight against it, give it an excuse to take a chunk out of her.
The panther shifter came back, meeting his accomplice's gaze. "She was on the phone with Damon. . . He'll be here soon. We're to keep an eye on her in the meantime."
Terror gripped her stomach. "Damon's coming?"
He glared furiously at her. "Shut up, filth."
The cougar stepped off her and shifted into a tall blonde man. Also naked. Guess they couldn't transform with their clothes. "Why was Damon talking to her?"
The panther man shrugged. "Who knows? But he was not happy." He pegged her with a murderous glare. "Were you blackmailing him? What did you threaten him with, huh? His family?"
She sat up straight, digging her fingers into the dirt beneath her. "Bl-blackmail? Me? What kind of person do you think I am? I'm a scientist! I'm conducting an experiment for work! I'm not here to hurt anyone!"
She didn't know what she said, but it was the wrong thing to say.
The panther shifter exploded in a heap of snarls and claws. He struck her across the cheek, knocking her aside. She stayed on the ground, holding the side of her face, fighting the damned tears that misted her eyes. Blood rushed up to her head and throbbed painfully around her skull.
"You sick fuck," the panther seethed, towering over her. "Your people call us monsters, but you're the real monsters!"
Somehow Kinsey managed to push her fear aside enough to scream at him. "I'm the monster? You're the one beating a defenseless woman! I've done nothing wrong. If you're going to beat someone up, at least get your facts straight first!"
His eyes went black. He stepped for her-
The ferns broke away to give space for the massive gray wolf leaping in front of them. A ferocious growl ripped out of his throat.
The panther and cougar shifters backed away, bowing their heads in submission to the newcomer. The wolf ignored them and strode up to her. Kinsey didn't like how close his big fangs came to her head; she tried to creep back, but a log behind her blocked her path. She shut her eyes and waited for him to finish her off.
His wet nose touched her uninjured cheek then he growled again, moving away from her. Sounds of tearing fabric surrounded her. When she opened her eyes, the shifters had all turned into their human forms. To her surprise, Damon stood only a few feet away from her with his back to her and his perfect bottom on full display at head height.
Oh dear. She'd thought he was handsome before in his suit or even in jeans and a t-shirt, but this suit was far more impressive. He was clean cut like marble and lithe as any fit predator. His finely toned muscles rippled unnaturally as he glared at the other two shifters. "Which one of you fuckers hit her?"
The two shifters exchanged a nervous glance.
"Answer me. I told you to watch her, not beat her." His voice was firm, unrelenting, a force to be reckoned with. No wonder they didn't want to answer him.
She had been confused about their reaction to him, but after seeing his wolf and hearing the underlying threat in his tone, she understood. "You're the Alpha I've been tracking."
Her soft voice was all he needed to snap his out of his plans for murder. He faced her, gaze honing in on the bruise like it offended him. She didn't blame him. It was probably ugly to look at. She did her best to cover it up with her hair.
"What did you say?" he demanded of her now.
She licked her lips nervously. God, he was gorgeous, and those green eyes were intense, as dark as pine needles, when he looked at her. "I. . . um, I found your paw prints. I've been following them. Documenting them."
The other shifters hadn't left, but they might as well have with all the attention he gave her. "Why?"
"Because they asked me to."
A shadow fell over his face. He'd heard enough from her and turned to the others. "I'm not going to ask again. You can both pay for this."
"Damon," the panther shifter argued, "She's one of them. Look." He handed Damon the GPS, insignia-side up. "We thought she was blackmailing you."
She was taken aback at the audacity he had to defend himself when he was in the wrong. "I'm not a blackmailer! I told you, I'm just doing my job. I don't want to hurt anyone. Hell, I can't even kill a spider!"
Fangs bared, he stepped for her, but Damon caught his shoulder then sunk his fist into his stomach. The panther shifter doubled over and fell on one knee.
"Keep your fucking hands off her, Jared. Kalem, take Kinsey to the Howling Moon. I'll meet you there."
Kinsey didn't even notice the second red wolf crouched in the bushes until he emerged and approached her. Without glancing in her direction, Damon gestured for her to follow this new wolf, Kalem, away from all her research. She reached for her bag, but Damon held a hand up to her--eyes still locked on the submissive panther shifter. "Forget your stuff. Get out of here."
Maybe now wasn't the best time to argue with the Alpha, but, "I've spent all day on my research. I'm not leaving without it."
She wasn't asking for permission. He clearly cared little for scientific endeavors, but she didn't expect him to understand, or appreciate the work she did. Willing to accept the consequences, she strode passed him and collected her things before going to the red wolf's side. The wolf led the way, eyeing her like she'd lost an arm without noticing. She ignored him and focused on the roots and twigs that would love to trip her the first moment she looked away. They followed the trail of flags she had made until they reached the main path.
As soon as her foot hit the well used trail, laughter broke out further up ahead. Suddenly Kinsey remembered she was walking beside a wolf and panicked. People might know of shifters, but that didn't mean they wanted to run into one in the woods.
However, when she turned to hide Kalem--yeah, she wasn't exactly sure how she was going to do that--he was gone. She blinked in bewilderment then Kalem appeared behind a tree, dressed in loose fitted, generic clothing. While she wondered where the clothes had come from, Kalem pulled her to the tree he hid behind and waited for the hikers to pass them.
"Why are we hiding?" she whispered, watching the small group on the trail. Kalem was fully clothed--much less terrifying- looking.
He tapped the left side of his face. "Your bruise is fresh. I don't want them thinking shifters are beating you in the woods. It'll give us a bad name."
Ah.
Her hand automatically went up to her cheek in a lame attempt to hide the mark, because apparently her hair wasn't cutting it.
"One of you did beat me in the woods," she muttered, dropping her gaze. She didn't even want to be here with Kalem, but she feared what he would do to her if she made a break for it.
"It wasn't under Damon's orders. Trust me, he's making them pay for it right now. You have nothing to fear."
Her previous experiences told her something different.
Kalem peeked around the trunk and gestured for her to follow him onto the trail. With no choice in the matter, she joined him.
They walked silently, but she felt his gaze on her, waiting for her to bolt no doubt. When they reached the parking lot, she automatically walked to her car; he caught her arm and tugged her towards--a Porsche. Who drove a Porsche on a dirt road? The lot was filled with trucks and SUVs. Aside from her Mazda, his was the only two-wheel drive vehicle in view.
"You drive a supercar?"
He scowled at her judgemental tone. "What's wrong with that?"
"Aren't you afraid of rocks scratching it or tearing up the belly?" If she was ever lucky enough to afford a supercar, she'd baby it. Never let a dirt road near it.
He shrugged. "I know a guy who can fix her up brand new. In." He opened the passenger door for her.
She peered back at her car. "Listen, how about you let me go and I promise not to tell anyone what happened today? I don't need to talk to Damon."
A smutty smirk touched his face, blue eyes dancing with mischief in the sunlight. "You're avoiding him? You have to be the first female to want to keep him at a distance. Come on."
"What about my car?" There had to be some way out of this. She had ignored Damon's call multiple times and had apparently done something wrong in his territory. She didn't want to go to his secluded bar to find out what he did to people who crossed him.
Kalem held his hand out to her. "Give me your keys. I'll make sure someone brings it to the bar."
So they could dispose of her and her car without anyone knowing? Did he think she was stupid?
His eyes hardened when she didn't move to get her keys. "I told you, you have nothing to fear. You have Damon's word."
"That means nothing to me."
"It should. An Alpha's word is final, especially Damon's. No harm will come to you."
"So what you're saying is, I could make a break for my car and you wouldn't hurt me?"
Kalem's attitude completely changed. He stood at ease, crossing his arms and sizing her up with deep amusement and a hint of respect. "There's only one way to find out, isn't there?"
He was challenging her. Giving her an option, which was more than what she had been given so far.
Maybe Damon truly meant her no harm.
There's only one way to find out.
Grumbling, she handed him her keys, making him smile; it was genuine, pleased. Impressed. He gestured gallantly to the door again. She tucked into the vehicle, hoping she wouldn't regret this.