The Scent of Seduction (3 page)

She lifted her sunglasses to the top of her head. “I was attempting to withdraw money from my savings and the system ordered me to come see you?"

"Yes ma'am for withdrawals of this amount the system always flags the transaction in case of identity theft—that, on top of the fact that there's been no activity on this account for over a year. We need to confirm some of your information then we can proceed.” She tapped a couple of keys on the laser keyboard shining on the countertop. “Please enter the address listed on the account, your social security number and date of birth into the fields on the screen in front of you."

Nicole did as instructed then stood idle, waiting to find out if she could escape this town with her money in hand. Her hands trembled slightly, and she stuffed them in the pockets of her jeans to hide her nervousness from any eagle-eyed employees or patrons. She wouldn't put it past Adam to have blocked her funds somehow. The man was rich, powerful, and had enough of a god complex that he felt justified in any of his actions.

Nicole peeked over her shoulder as circumspectly as possible to see if the man from earlier was still standing behind her, but no longer saw him in the lobby. For some reason she was both relieved and disappointed.

This was the first time she'd stopped since fleeing Wisconsin in a beat-up old car she'd managed to buy with the cash she'd stolen from Adam's safe. Her life as she'd known it had come to a screeching halt eighteen months ago. The bright eager high school teacher had died, and in her place now was a desperate woman simply trying to survive. Her nerves increased when the teller glanced at her with a flat expression on her face then disappeared.

Oh shit! Something's wrong.
Was it because she'd asked for the money in cash, not credit?

All of the air in Nicole's lungs expelled in a rush of relief when the teller came back with a sealed envelope. Money in hand, she skedaddled for the glass doors leading to freedom. As soon as the barrier parted, she gratefully took a breath of fresh air. She gripped the envelope of cash as if it was a lifeline and she a drowning woman. Nicole slid her sunglasses back down and turned towards her car parked across the lot. Once she found a place to settle, she'd have to contact her brother and parents so they'd know she was alive. For all she knew, they thought she was dead, and despite wanting to make a fresh, anonymous start, she couldn't wilfully let her family continue to live in pain if she had the power to stop it. She'd made it past the first line of cars when a mountain of flesh brought her to a halt. A startled squeak escaped and she jumped back.

"I'm sorry. I didn't see you there.” She instantly recognised him as the man from inside and tilted her head back to catch the first real glimpse of his features. The thick, dark brown hair was full across the top and down the sides of his head. He had high cheek bones and a strong jaw, but what captivated her were his bright grey eyes. They were almost silver, a shade she'd never seen before. He stood nearly a foot taller than her and there was no disguising the strength of the muscles that corded his body. He was huge, which made a shiver race down her spine. She'd had enough of large, domineering men. While they might be sexy as hell, their strength and attitudes led to nothing but problems. Something deep inside tried to tell her this man would be different—that this man could protect her, that this man was special—but her mind refused to listen. She tried to step around him, but her arm was captured in his large hand. Not hard—he didn't squeeze—but his intentions were clear.

"Miss? I know something is wrong. Please let me help."

The resonance of his deep voice shimmered on the air currents surrounding her, almost hypnotic in its quality. Her body wanted to crawl against his wide chest and beg him for protection but her mind demanded she escape.

"There's nothing you can do. Please let go. I need to leave...right now."

"Is there someone after you? I can scent your fear."

She stiffened. There was only one possible explanation as to why a man would say that. Well, only one that she had intimate knowledge of.
Shifter
. She wrenched her arm out of his grasp and ran for her car. It was parked on the other side of the lot, maybe a hundred feet from where she stood, but it suddenly seemed miles away. A gust of wind blew her hair across her face and tangled it in the sunglasses she'd worn despite the overcast day. Only feet away from her goal, her body pitched forwards without warning. Instinctively she reached out with her hands to stop the fall but never felt the rough pavement touch her skin. Instead, a large muscled arm was wrapped around her waist, pulling her back into the embrace of her saviour.

She twisted and fought for release, blind panic seizing her mind. She had to get away! He would tell Adam where she was. All of those shifters stood together. It was them versus humanity, and she knew who would win this particular battle. She had neither the strength nor resources to put up a fight. Adam would come after her, and she'd kill herself before she allowed that creature to have control over her once again.

The man rested his large hand on the back of her head and held her close to the wide chest. The strength of those arms was obvious but they didn't crush her. Why wasn't he dragging her away? It almost felt like he was comforting her. Her body relaxed marginally and she fought through the instinctual panic to open her senses. She heard soothing murmurs float above her head and felt a calming caress up and down her back. She turned her head into the warm fabric of his shirt and inhaled. Inside something happened—within seconds the fight left her and she collapsed into the man's embrace. Her arms wrapped around his waist and she rubbed her face against his chest.

"I've got you. Nothing more will hurt you. I swear it."

She looked up into those captivating silver eyes. “Who are you? What just happened?"

He lifted her dark glasses and looked into her eyes. “My name is Jaryn Chaunterel and you're my mate."

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Adam Broyles sat in his home office watching the amber liquid swirl around the glass in his hand. Social rules be damned—if he wanted a drink at ten o'clock in the morning, he'd have a drink. It's not as if he'd get drunk. His inhumanly fast metabolism made it extremely difficult to achieve a state of inebriation. His hand squeezed around the cut lead crystal and the pointed edges dug into his palm. He'd like to feel his fingers curled around something else at the moment, preferably the supple neck of one traitorous bitch.

His eyes unfocused as he stared out the large window. The land surrounding his Northwoods compound became a haze as his mind drifted. Nicole's image floated before him. The dark-red, almost burgundy hair, the plump tits he loved to squeeze until a little squeak escaped her lush mouth. He'd initially taken Nicole because the DNA tests had shown that she would be the perfect host for his latest experiments. However, unlike the others—humans who were no more than disposable tissue to him—he found himself craving the little spitfire and contemplated taking her as a mate. The test results were inconclusive at this point, but Adam suspected that, thanks to Nicole's assistance, he'd finally managed to achieve perfection with the latest trial.

He'd offered her everything. Being a powerful female, it was only right that she serve at his side as his queen. Normally, he'd simply take what he wanted, but that somehow seemed wrong when it came to picking a mate. So he'd plied her with treasures and promises. He'd given her freedom within the compound that no other had. Still, she'd held herself apart from him. He'd then made it perfectly clear that his kindness only went so far, and she really didn't have a choice unless she wanted to suffer the consequences. He'd done all this and still the bitch somehow managed to escape. He would find her, he had no doubt. When he did, he would teach her why nobody ran out on him. If a tiny slip of woman thought she could get away with insulting him this way... Well, he was just going to have to teach her another lesson.

The ghost of smile on his lips that had appeared as he thought of all the lovely ways to punish Nicole for her defection changed to a scowl as his office door flew open and Kenneth, one of his earliest acquisitions, rushed his desk.

"What have I told you about asking for permission before entering!” he shouted.

Kenneth retreated several steps back. “I'm sorry,” he whispered, cowering.

Adam watched as the young telepath danced on the balls of his feet. He was obviously fearful at breaking the rules, but desperate to relate his information.

"Well, what is it?” he said exasperated.

"You told us to keep an eye on any transactions occurring on Ms Holland's accounts. She just withdrew a substantial amount of money from her savings."

He quickly stood, circled the desk, grabbed Kenneth's shirt and yanked him inches away from his face. “Where is she?” he growled.

"We're working on it, sir. Jasper is trying to hack into the banking system to find the branch location of her withdrawal. However, the new firewall program is one he hasn't encountered before. It's going to take time."

He pushed Kenneth away and the small body hit the door of his office with a hard thud.

"You go tell Jasper I want that information five minutes ago. If he doesn't have it by the end of today, he will be punished in front of the others tomorrow. Let him know he is to report to me personally when he has her exact location."

"Yes, sir.” Kenneth clutched the handle of the door and left the office as quickly as possible.

Adam paced in circles for a minute. The vein in his neck pounded in time with each step. They were so close to finding the faithless whore and she still managed to slither away. He would know where she was by the end of the day or there would be hell to pay. He picked up the lead crystal glass and slammed back the remaining seventy-year-old scotch. The fiery liquid seared his throat and churned his stomach. The conflagration burned his senses, and he launched the glass towards the wood panel wall, watching dispassionately as it shattered. Lead crystal rained down, catching the sunlight filtering through the large window, and tiny prisms littered the oriental carpet.

He stalked to the door, wrenched it open and took several steps into the foyer. “Lenora!” he shouted. His voice echoed off the marble and stone filling the expanse of the house.

A few seconds later, a small woman ran into the hall from the back of the house that led to the kitchen. She quickly fell to her knees before him.

"Yes, Alpha?"

"Clean up the glass in my office. And don't you dare get any blood on my carpet if you cut yourself."

"Yes, sir. Right away."

He watched as she scampered into his office and his sensitive ears picked up the sounds of glass pieces hitting each other as she gathered them off the floor. He threw open the back door, walked across the stone patio then out onto the grass. He was scheduled to be down in the labs for the latest round of trials in an hour, but he knew if he didn't blow off some steam first, there was a good chance he would do irreparable damage to the subjects. Punishment was one thing, but there was no sense in damaging the goods to the point where they would be useless when the time came to implement the final stages of his master plan.

Nicole pushed against the arms imprisoning her. “That's impossible!"

"No it's truth,” Jaryn corrected.

"I'm not one of you! I'll never be one of you! I won't have it!” She took several steps back and held out her arms to halt Jaryn from gathering her back into his arms.

"Easy. I won't hurt you. I could never hurt you. We
are
mates. My wolf recognises you. Close your eyes, and open your senses. You'll see it for the fact it is."

"Are you crazy! I'm not going to close my eyes while standing in a parking lot with a stranger who says he's about to claim me."

She was breathing rapidly, her fists clenched—a hair's breadth away from bolting back into the bank for safety—but she knew she could never outrun him. If he chose to pursue her, he would have her in his strong arms within seconds.

"Okay, that's sensible. Look, before we continue this debate, will you please tell me your name? I'd like to know who I'm arguing with.” He smiled.

"It's Nicole Holland,” she found herself answering quickly.

"Nice to meet you, Nicole. I know you have no reason to trust me, but you obviously know what I am—what being my mate means. So tell me why it's impossible, other than stubbornness."

She pushed back the hair that had blown in her face again. “First, I'm not a werewolf so telling me to open my senses won't achieve a thing. There's no reason for me to recognise one of you as a mate. Second, I'm pretty sure I've already been marked. And third, I have no interest in being some chauvinistic Alpha asshole's chattel. Why do you think I ran in the first place?"

A low growl rumbled in Jaryn's chest. “First, there is no mating mark on you. I would detect it. Second, I'm a shifter
not
a werewolf. It's an entirely different concept. Third, I believe somewhere in your family history there
is
a shifter because we can identify each other—call it a sixth sense if you will. And, you
did
recognise our connection, so don't think you can lie to me. You can't lie to a shifter, and you especially can't lie to your mate and expect to get away with it. Once you stopped fighting, you clung to me like I was a piece of driftwood on the open sea. And fourth, I don't know where you got your ideas of what it means to be an Alpha's mate, but I have no intention of treating you like a chattel. In our pack, mates are honoured, protected and treasured."

He slowly stepped forwards and, taking Nicole's hand, he placed it on his chest. “The concept of a mate is that we find the one individual who is a perfect match for us out of the entire world population. Those odds are astronomical, so any mating is treated like the miracle that it is. Being your mate also means that I can sense your emotions, especially when they are running hot. Earlier I detected fear. And I suspect it had to do with more than dealing with the shock of all the new feelings coursing through you. Tell me. Let me help you."