Hunter's Prey, A (6 page)

Chapter 3

Her phone was ringing.

Rubbing her face tiredly, Zoe took a moment to come to full awareness, taking note of the comfortable way she'd been sleeping on her belly and the satiny sheets that smelled like roses, something she was just now noticing. Lifting her upper body on her elbows, she reached to grab the phone, frowning at the time and the fact that her personal assistant was the one calling her.

“
Marissa?”

“I'm sorry for calling so early and I know you said to hold your calls, but Luke Newman is asking to see you. What should I tell him?”

A thread of panic pierced through her. She'd anticipated the increased stress she would be dealing with once she became CEO, but she hadn't expected it to start so soon. Luke Newman was MedFuture's main arch-nemesis, owner of Newman Pharmaceuticals Inc, and businessman extraordinaire. If the Hunters didn't a majority of the business world, they would be having a hard time keeping Newman Pharmaceuticals Inc second best in the pharmaceutical industry. Granted, in the medical equipment industry HUNTER Holding's MedFuture Enterprises wasn't even third best, but they were clearly leaders in the market. It was ridiculous to assume HUNTER Holdings was the best in every area they stuck their noses in, but they had standards that no company they invested in could ignore.

“What does he want – did he say?”

“Well, his PA called. He told me he wanted to set up a meeting between you and his boss. Apparently Mr. Newman would, and I quote, 'very much like to meet you.' Daniel is very nice, by the way. I might go out on a date with him.”

“Who's Daniel?”

“Boss! Have you been paying attention at all? Mr. Newman's PA!”

“Luke Newman has a male PA?” Zoe asked amusedly.

“It certainly seems so.”

“You will so not be going out with him. Remember, don't fraternize with the competition,” Zoe said, getting out of bed completely naked, inner thighs sticky with dried fluid. Walking to the large windows, she pressed a button on a panel that automatically pulled the blinders into the wall, letting the sunshine bathe her body before going about her morning ritual. “Tell Daniel I would love to meet with Newman, but it'll be on my terms. Extend Newman an invitation to join me for lunch anytime this week at The Forest. I will be the one to dictate the parameters of our conversation. I want it to happen on HUNTER Holdings turf. If he refuses, tell him I am not going to be available this week. I want him to know I am not bending to his will.”

“Done. I'm sure Mr. Newman is going to be just
ecstatic
that you're forcing him on enemy grounds.”

“I'm sure I don't care.”

“Hey, it's your call, I wasn't criticizing. Oh, and you know what they say: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

Smiling, Zoe didn't even check the bed, knowing instinctively that Damian had left her alone sometime in the middle of the night. It didn't matter if he ran – she would pursue.

“Marissa, do not dare hit on Luke Newman's PA or you will have to deal with me.”

Smiling herself, her very competent assistant said, “I've dealt with you before, boss. Know for a fact you're not the tough cookie they think you are.”

Stepping into the lavish bathtub that she'd filled during their conversation, Zoe picked up a strawberry from a fruit bowl that had magically appeared in her room in the morning. Smiling as she pushed the delicious berry past her lips, she remembered the previous night and closed her eyes, sliding further into the water until only her head, shoulders, arms and nipples were exposed to the air.

“Mm-well, I'm actually quite a lot tougher than you think. I am not privy to things your pretty little mind would have a rough time wrapping around.”

“I don't doubt it, boss.”

Voice suddenly serious, Zoe sighed.

“Marissa.”

“Yes?”

“Just... don't let him use you.”

Equally serious, “Thank you, Zoe.”

***

It wasn't working. He couldn't focus. The mere being in this house bothered him, and he knew why exactly.

He could smell her. Even if she was a whole wing away from him, he could isolate her scent and tell she was aroused, which meant the others probably could, too. He'd been right to leave her after taking her so wildly, but now every single instinct he had commanded his body to go to her and take her again. Possess her.

He needed a distraction, but working was not it.

Sighing, he knew what would ensue as soon as he called his 'brothers' into a meeting. Leon was the only one not present, and Gabriel would leave in a few hours. It was the only time to express his concerns about having Miss Jameson so deeply into their lives. Into
his
life, particularly.

Ten minutes later, the four of them were gathered by the lake deep in the forest, their usual meeting point. It was a place that symbolized freedom and their communion with nature. Centuries before it had been a place for sacrifices, where local people had offered blood in exchange for protection and sparing. There was a single altar stone, in which strange symbols had been carved, and now it lay abandoned, only ever visited by the Hunter brothers, creatures of both myth and reality.

One by one, Damian's
brothers
appeared from behind trees, each looking more menacing than the next. None of them had ever intimidated him with the exception of Leon, who he never really saw much of, anymore. No one truly got to see him that often – he was a recluse, living entirely in the shadows.

“Why are we here?” Gabriel asked, his deep voice warning him that the previous warrior of the Maasai People was not in the mood for games and wasting time. But then, neither was he – ever. Of all the Hunter brothers, Gabriel was the one he felt a kinship towards. All of them had lived through hardships, but Gabriel was the only one who truly understood what it was like to lead an army of people and see so much death, while being essentially impervious to attacks. Gabriel had seen the same horrors, had lived through similar times. They had the same scars wars always left.

Maybe Leon did, too, but then no one knew. Leon had always been the one to pick them from the masses of shifters, proposing a unique chance to contribute to a legacy they would leave to the world. A legacy that would benefit not only shifters, but humans, as well. A legacy that would protect them. They would have been fools to refuse. The only man who had ever refused the singular offer of Leon Hunter, the founder of HUNTER Holdings, was now dead, having perished in a mysterious fashion.

“I need to talk to you all about Miss Jameson.”

“I like her,” Dominic said, “She knows what she's doing. She'll be better than Herrero with MedFuture.”

“You fucked her,” Gabriel pointed out and Damian nodded.

“I did,” he said. “She's my mate.”

Three eyebrows raised in surprise. Amar, who had been silently observing, leaning against a tree, broke the ensuing silence.

“Well, that's certainly not something I expected to hear from you. It's not something I expected to hear from any of us, actually. I wasn't sure it was myth or reality. How do you know?”

“I just know,” Damian said, clearly irritated that he had to talk about her. He felt somehow proprietary of her, as though even his feelings for her shouldn't be made public.

“You wouldn't have fucked her otherwise, though, would you?” Dominic asked, his eyes coldly assessing.

“Why do you say that?”

“I saw how she rattles you. You wouldn't have given her more leverage over you.”

For a moment he was tempted to deny she had any leverage over him at all, but instead, Damian merely nodded. A huge concession, all Hunters noted.

“So why are we here?” Gabriel repeated, smiling as he leaned against the altar, legs crossed at the ankles and arms crossed over his chest.

“I can't be around her, so I wanted to let you know that any social function, board meeting or HUNTER Club meeting that includes Zoe will be out of question for me. We're going to have to devise a protocol to exclude her from some of the meetings, so that I can attend. Also, I want her security upgraded. I want it the same as ours – a level six. Until we find proper personnel for that, I will assign half my team to this task.”

“You're going through an awful lot of pain to stay away from the woman you want to protect so badly you're willing to cut your own protection in half,” Amar noted from his place on the comfortable grass, where he was sitting with a bent knee, his other leg sprawled under it.

Scowling, Damian nervously combed a hand through his hair, unable to meet his brothers' eyes.

“Yeah, well, I'm not going to take her, but I don't want her hurt. She's MedFuture's CEO after all now, isn't she?”

“Herrero was the CEO before that, but I don't see a level six security team tailing
his
ass. He's a level four, as are every other HUNTER Holdings CEOs out there. Admit it, brother; you are already protective and possessive of her.”

“Protective? Yes.” Frowning, Damian looked at Amar in particular. “Possessive? Absolutely not.”

With a raised eyebrow and a taunting grin, the oldest of all Hunters present showed his fangs in mocking arrogance. He was the only one with this anomaly: even in his human form, Gabriel couldn't completely retract his fangs, those of a majestic black panther. Luckily, humans normally only ever commented on this particularity, never suspecting anything, as prominent canines were thankfully not unheard of.

“Fine. Then she's fair game to any of us, right?”

“You're not going to provoke me,” Damian said, eyes narrowed in pure threat. “I know you would not touch my mate, and you know I won't allow anyone to hurt her.”

“Or touch her,” Amar supplied.

Dominic followed. “Isn't that possessiveness?”

“I think what our dear
brother
is saying is that he is willing to play games with Mother Nature and he thinks he'll win,” Gabriel taunted, his eyes flickering in a twisted way. “There's a reason we're not human, you know. And there's a reason Leon chose all of us the way he did. We have a duty to shifters and humans alike.”

“I know the speech, Gabriel,” Damian said, facing the dark chocolate-skinned man fully. “I know how
special
we are. Which is why I want to focus on my
mission
and not let anything interfere with it.”

Scratching his neck in obvious confusion, Dominic shrugged and sat by the slightly older Hunter. “I don't think a mate is supposed to be a distraction. If they really exist, though all of us probably doubted it for a while, they are supposed to make us stronger, more connected, more focused. I think you'd benefit from keeping Zoe in your life. And your bed, surely.”

“Stop trying to convince me by appealing to my dick,” Damian growled, displeased by the images the words
Zoe
and
bed
brought to his head. “And quit with the theories. None of us have seen mated shifters. Those are rare enough to be myths.”

“Well, we have heard about a few.”

“Yes, but have you seen any? Talked to them?”

“Are you really sure she is your mate?” Gabriel asked, pushing away from the altar and walking to his brother until they were standing face to face.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Describe it to us. How are you so sure?”

Shoulders tense with the memory of the previous night, Damian was sure all three Hunters could sense the pheromones he couldn't help but release.

“It's not only that I want her sexually. It's...” Sighing, he ran a hand over his face, turning away from all of them. “I've been drawn to her from the start. It feels like she's mine. And when I had her...” Groaning, a shudder coursed through him. “It was like everything made sense. I knew it then – I know it now. She's it, but I have no intention of claiming her.”