Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“What would it take for you to accept anything I offer? Do you always have to reject it?” She almost said reject me, because that was the truth of the matter.
He didn’t answer. They had reached the taco place, and he led her inside, glancing at the board. “Do you know what you want?”
It was an authentic Mexican joint, with the menu mostly in Spanish. She shrugged. “Surprise me.”
Ben ordered in Spanish and they handed him a couple of Dos Equis beers with lime wedges stuffed in the mouth. He passed one to her and they sat down at a booth.
“What did you order?”
“A carne asada burrito. Is that okay?”
“Yeah,” she said with a little laugh.
“You don’t know what that is, do you?”
She grinned sheepishly. “Some kind of burrito.”
“It’s a marinated beefsteak. I think you’ll like it.”
It was stupid, but she leaned forward and said, “Speak to me in Spanish?”
His eyebrows shot up.
She shrugged. “I like the way it sounds.”
“Como qué?”
“Keep going.”
“Si pudiera decirte la verdad, deciré que tu eres… mi todo mundo.”
His words rolled over her ears like they were spoken by Don Juan himself. “What did you say?”
He hesitated long enough for her to realize that he’d said something real for once. Something he couldn’t or wouldn’t say in English. She tried to replay the syllables in her mind to decipher their meaning, but her high school Spanish was lacking. Was it something about speaking the truth and then, you are my whole world? She clung to that thought, and placed it in her heart like a little jewel to take out and hold to the light the next time he rejected her.
8
They met Mark and Zolla back at Zolla’s house. Ashley headed toward the bathroom to change her clothes. He watched the shape of her ass under the red skirt as she sashayed away. God, how he ached to be inside her, to spank those lovely cheeks and fuck her from behind. Or maybe, even, to take her ass.
“You should really mark her,” Zolla said.
He frowned. “What’s it to you?”
To the omega’s credit, he didn’t cower under Ben’s narrowed gaze. “It would calm you down. You’d be able to think straight when she’s around.”
His lip curled in disbelief. He’d never heard that about mating a female. Besides, it was an impossibility. “She’s human.”
“So, it just means you have to be careful. Go for the shoulder instead of the neck. Avoid major arteries. She’ll heal up all right. She looks healthy enough.”
His vision changed and a growl erupted from his throat. He didn’t like Zolla talking about the way she looked. He didn’t like him talking about her at all.
Zolla held up his hands and lifted his chin, baring his throat to show subservience. “Hey, this is what I’m talking about. Once she’s marked you won’t be so crazy to let us all know she’s yours.”
“Fuck you,” he muttered. Turning to Mark, he said, “Did you bring the vest for her?”
“Yes,” Mark said, unzipping a duffel bag. “I have several Kevlar vests here, as well as firearms, in case you want to stay in human form.”
“I don’t. It’s just Ashley I’m worried about.” He found he couldn’t drop the topic of marking Ashley, though. Turning back to Zolla, he said, “If you were me—a wolf with more than one enemy who wants him dead—would you mark a female?”
Zolla tipped his head to the side. “Maybe not, but you might be able to think your way out of this better if you weren’t so jacked up on her pheromones.”
Ashley returned, her slight figure making her seem so vulnerable, so human. His blood surged to protect her. But in this case, protecting her would be keeping her away from him.
He held a vest open for her. “I need you to wear this for the meeting,” he told her.
“Bulletproof?” she asked, looking from him to Mark.
“Yes, ma’am,” Mark answered. “But your head is still vulnerable, so keep it down if any shots are fired.”
“Here’s how it’s going to go,” Ben cut in. “You’re going to drive up there, and make the trade. Obviously I interrupted it too early last time, and I’m sorry for that,” he said.
Ashley’s eyebrows raised in surprise. He knew it was out of character for him to apologize for anything.
“As soon as your sister is released, the two of you are going to get in your car and drive straight back here. Keep an eye on the rearview mirrors to make sure you’re not followed.”
“What will you do?”
“We’re going to attack,” he said, looking at the two men to make sure they were on board. They both nodded their assent.
“If anything goes awry and we’re forced to come out before the trade is made—and I hope it won’t—” he added at her look of alarm, “then you get in your car and drive off. I will make sure we get your sister back and I will tear out the throats of every last one of her captors.”