Page 11 of Hunted Mate (Stalked Mates #1)

G ray

Three days after I left Calista Hart screaming at me in her house, I park my surveillance van down at the bottom of my warehouse for the last time. It’s a bittersweet feeling.

I’m going to miss Callie. She was a lot of fun to try to warn off, and she was a delight to watch. I have been in her life for over twelve months, and I’d almost started to feel like a part of it. I’ve stayed long enough. Too long.

It’s time to move on.

Time to shake the obsession.

It’s getting messy. Saving her from herself is not my job, and I suspect if I took it, it would be a full-time job. She’s unhinged now. Unmoored from her wolf obsession. She’s going to do some crazy shit, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

The scars on her back were hard to look at. I knew what they were instantly. I have inflicted similar myself—but nobody walked away from them.

I don’t know how she got them, but I know that there’s a story that explains the obsession. She’s encountered our kind before. And somehow, she survived.

She has no idea what that means. Nobody survives an encounter with shifter wolves. Her existence is proof of her strength and her good fortune.

She doesn’t need me.

She’ll be okay.

I tell myself this was never meant to be long term. This is part of my job protecting the pack. I did it with flair and a lot more intimately than most of my assignments, but I regret nothing, except the fact that I have to leave.

I’ll keep remote tabs on Callie Hart, ensure that she doesn’t get back into her research, but I’d imagine she’s now thoroughly aware that I am untouchable, and she is entirely at my mercy.

I get out of the van and head up to the apartment that sits on the mezzanine floor of the workshop.

I like this spot. There’s space to work on the van, or anything else I want, and it’s far enough away from civilization that if I get a little wild I won’t be immediately spotted. This is an area zoned for industrial activity, and it’s pretty much the last place anybody would ever look for me.

I open the door to my apartment and I know instantly that something is wrong.

I smell vanilla and lilies. I smell woman.

She’s found me.

It shouldn’t be possible. I have taken so many precautions to ensure that I could not be found. I’m a ghost. I’m untraceable. I’m…

Click.

…about to be shot.

That is the unmistakable sound of a pistol being cocked.

“Hello,” Calista says.

I turn the light on, and see her sitting cross-legged on my bed. There’s not much up here in the way of creature comforts, but she’s made the best of what she could. She looks cute there, wearing all black, right down to the socks and sneakers. Adorable.

Her long blonde hair is tied back in a functional ponytail and her pretty blue eyes are focused on me with a narrow stare that is cute on her sweet round face.

The gun pointed at me is slightly less cute, but she has her finger extended along the barrel rather than on the trigger so that’s some small comfort.

“Hello,” I say, standing still. There’s a few feet between us, a little too much distance to try to close in and disarm her.

I imagine she took that into account when she decided where to sit in the room.

Smart girl. I could ask how she found me, but there are ways to find anybody if you are really dedicated. She must be furious with me.

She parts her lips, and I prepare to be absolutely bombarded with curses and fury for my destruction of her work.

“What about the spiders?”

“Excuse me?” That’s not the question I anticipated hearing from her.

“You killed so many spiders,” she says, her tone starting to hold more emotion.

I can see her trying to hold tears back as she speaks, but they fill her voice regardless, no matter how much she tries to blink them back.

“You turned the basement into a fireball. It wasn’t a victimless crime.

You’re an arsonist, and I am going to fucking ruin you. ”

She’s so fierce, and she means everything she says, and that is concerning. She’s still got her finger away from the trigger, though. That’s a small mercy, and one that might change if I do not talk her down.

“Do you care about the spiders this much? Or you care about the fact I took all your research from you?”

“I care that you are a psycho who thinks he can take from me and not suffer,” she says. “I’m not just anyone. I have resources.”

“I know who you are, Callie.”

Her eyes flash furiously at me. “Don’t you dare call me Callie. I have a gun on you.”

“I’m aware,” I say. “But you don’t want to shoot me.”

That finger of hers curls down, away from the safe position and into a much more dangerous place.

“Give me one reason not to shoot you, Mr. I-Don’t-Exist.”

Her eyes have narrowed. Her tone has become even. She means it. I feel it.

“You don’t exist,” she says. “You don’t have any records that correspond to anybody. You’re a ghost. And that means shooting you has absolutely no consequences.”

Her finger curls a little tighter.

I look into her eyes and know that if I do not speak now, she will destroy me. She has the look of a woman who has had everything she cares about stripped away from her and has absolutely nothing left to lose.

I underestimated her. She found me even though I should not be able to be found. She came for me with a weapon.

She leaves me with no option.

“I am one of the beasts you are trying to find,” I say. “Though, of course, now I’ve told you that, I’ll have to kill you.”

She moves her finger back away from the trigger. I relax very slightly.

“Are you lying to me?”

“About the being a wolf part, or the having to kill you part?”

“Either one.”

“They’re both true, though I won’t hurt you. There’s been enough pain lately. I’d appreciate it if you put the gun down.”

“Show me.”

“What do you mean?”

She wriggles the tip of the gun up and down at me. “You know exactly what I mean.”

Calista

I don’t believe him.

But I want to believe him.

This would be the only thing that could possibly make up for all he has taken from me. And it would make sense, in a sick sort of way. It might even make everything that has happened kind of sort of okay. If this is true, then I might be able to feel like life still has meaning.

Gray starts unbuttoning his shirt, looking at me with an expression I can only describe as wary. He didn’t expect to see me here. He had no idea that I could find him. It’s quite mad, really, how little he thought of me, even after clearly being in my orbit for a long time.

“If I show you my animal nature, there will be no going back,” he says. “None whatsoever. You will be…”

“Stop talking and get undressed,” I say, moving my finger back to the trigger. He notices the small movement and pulls the shirt off his shoulders in one rough movement.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this power move.

I’ve been at his mercy for longer than I realized.

He’s been keeping me in the dark, keeping his eyes on me.

He’s been coming into my space. He’s been lurking around me.

He’s made me small. He’s made me his victim.

And now he’s the one being made vulnerable.

He’s the one with a slight tremor in his fingers. I know he hopes I don’t notice.

I do.

I notice everything.

Especially everything about him.

This is the first time I’ve felt a scrap of power since I met him.

He deserves this. And worse. I think about what I might do next.

I was prepared to shoot him on sight, but I think I’ll let him pretend he can turn into a wolf first, and then, well, maybe I’ll get him to do some other things for me. Make him dance for me, maybe.

Gray shoots me a stern look as I start to smile.

It’s probably supposed to dampen my mood, but I don’t care.

I am so far beyond giving a damn what I am supposed to do.

I know a few things about life that most people don’t get to know this young.

I know it can be taken away when you least expect it.

And I know that there’s more things in it than can be described to most people.

He pulls off his undershirt, exposing a very muscular, very well-defined body. He’s been hurt before. He’s been carved into by life. If he’s not careful, my bullet will add to the scars and scrapes.

In spite of my cold fury with him, there’s something about this man I find incredibly fucking hot. He’s built like sin, and I know he’s capable of making me feel sexual things I’ve never felt before. It would be a pity to shoot the source of the most incredible orgasms I’ve ever had.

I have never had this much power before. Ever. I’ve always had money. But I’ve never had a man’s life at my fingertip this way. It’s quite intoxicating.

He’s… oh, his pants are coming off too.

“Ripping through endless underwear gets expensive over time,” he says, flickering a little wink at me as he sweeps his boxers down and off, displaying his entire body to me.

Damn. I almost forget why we’re here.

He’s very, very attractive, and seeing his cock hanging thick and long between his thighs reminds me of how it felt when it was inside me. He fucked me so damn hard I felt as though I was someone entirely different. Someone who felt things more deeply, someone knew what pleasure was.

“Don’t just stand there looking silly,” I tell him. “Show me. Or I shoot.”

He shakes his head at me, like he’s doing what I told him because he’s playing along, like I’m getting into real trouble here.

“Don’t panic when you see this,” he says. “I’d prefer if you put the gun down. People tend to panic when they see me as a wolf, and you might reflexively shoot me.”

“Trust me,” I say, my lips twisting with amusement. “I’m quite good at controlling my reflexes.”

“That might be true,” he says. “I’ve been impressed by you, Calista. You’ve been very hard to throw off the scent. And if I do what I am about to do, it will change things for both of us forever. You understand that what has been seen, cannot be unseen.”