Page 27 of Hunted Mate (Stalked Mates #1)

“I’ve killed a lot of people,” I say. “You’d just be another one.

Hell, I might kill you and not actually notice I did it until later.

Or, I might never notice it. That’s what people like me do, Mr. Gray’s Dad.

We kill people and it’s barely a thing. I have a friend who drowned six male strippers in a party bus and it’s considered rude to bring it up.

I cannot tell you how irrelevant you would become if I ended you. ”

He’s not laughing anymore.

I have spent a lot of time trying to not be evil, but now feels like a really good time to start.

“That’s right, motherfucker,” I growl. “I’m coming for you. And when I find you…”

The car lurches to the side and Gray grabs the phone out of my hand before throwing it out of the driver’s side window, and into a swamp where it’s immediately grabbed by a snapping turtle who bites it in half and spits out the remainder.

“You cannot talk to my father like that,” Gray says.

“Well, I can’t now. I don’t have his number.”

“Stop being a smartass,” Gray growls. “You don’t know who you’re talking to, or what he’ll do to you if he feels disrespected.”

“What’s he going to do? Imprison me in a laboratory and have them experiment on me even harder ?”

“Yes! Yes, among other things,” Gray says. “Callie, I think the treatment they gave you…”

“You mean the illegal and immoral experiment they performed on me.”

“Yes. I think that might have changed your temperament.”

“For the better, right? I used to be so lame. I used to let men stalk me and burn my research,” I say pointedly. “That wouldn’t happen again. I would never be disrespected like that again.”

“This is a tense situation,” he says.

“Maybe for you. Not for me. I’m very relaxed right now.”

I’ve never felt so clear. I used to be anxious about all sorts of things.

I’m not anymore. I’m not afraid of Gray’s dad, and I’m not afraid of mean people who want to hurt me in general.

Something has shifted in me. Or maybe I’m just seeing something inside myself that was always there, hidden.

Maybe some of my weakness was a choice I don’t actually have to keep making.

I see Gray struggle with the urge not to smile.

“I bet you wish you could say that to him. He seems like a real fucking dick. I know you’re not supposed to talk to people’s families that way. Feel free to tell my dad he’s an asshole too. He’s dead, so he won’t take offense.”

“I remember when I thought you were so sweet,” he says, shaking his head with a grim smile.

“You don’t like me anymore?”

“I fucking love you,” he says. “I just hope to heaven I can handle you.”

Gray

She really doesn’t give a fuck. There’s not an ounce of tension in her. She’s smiling at me with real glee, and I have to wonder what my father is doing now. Is he fuming? Or did her gambit actually work on some level?

Hard to say.

In the meantime, I focus on logistics. We get a hotel in Lafayette.

Calista picks it. It’s nice. Really nice.

My father has a lot of money, but I’ve never had as much as this.

I’ve focused on the hunt, and sometimes the kill.

I stay in warehouses, or sleep in the surveillance van.

I don’t get room service or fresh laundry.

“I don’t pay at this chain,” she says, breezing through the lobby with her face card alone. We check in at the counter, where the polished woman behind the desk practically snaps to attention as she realizes who she’s talking to.

“The presidential suite is reserved,” the lady at the desk says. “Thank you very much for your business, Ms. Hart.”

What business, I wonder. She’s not paying for anything. Not that I’m complaining, but I bet these rooms are close to a thousand dollars a night, and for some reason it’s best not to charge her even though she could pay more than anybody else here and not even notice it.

“You look disapproving,” Callie says, giving me a curious look as she eats a complimentary chocolate. “Don’t you like the room?”

We’ve gotten up to our suite, and it is incredible. This is no hotel room. There’s no bed with stiff linen and a weird chair facing the bed for no apparent reason. There’s three rooms all decorated with a sort of elegant coziness that makes me feel more at home than any home has ever made me.

“The room is amazing,” I say. “It’s more like an apartment!”

“I know,” she says. “Three rooms. We’re roughing it. It’s practically camping.”

I cannot tell if she is joking or not. She wanders off to the bed and lies down on it, spreading her limbs with languid grace.

“We need to talk,” I say, standing over her as she lounges on the bed with the unbothered attitude she’s been taking on lately.

“What about?”

“About your behavior. About what happened. About what is going to happen. We need to be prepared for the full moon. If you’re going to shift, it will be then, or…”

“Or?”

“If we have sex,” I say.

Her eyes light up. “Oh, my god, let’s have sex on the full moon. That way we can test the theory to its utmost. I’ll either shift, or not, and we’ll know.”

“Shifting isn’t easy,” I tell her. “The body undergoes rapid transformations and while you will not die, the first couple of times it happens you might think you’re going to. You might even want to.”

“Sounds dramatic,” she says, unwrapping another chocolate swiped from the bowl at the side of the bed.

“Can I get you to care about anything at all, or are you just going to be like an emotional brick wall from here on out?”

She looks at me, and I see a spark of temper in her eyes.

“What do you want, Gray? Do you want me to freak out and panic and cry? Do you want me to get upset because something is coming that might hurt? I’ve had a lot of things happen to me that hurt.

I’m a woman. Having my body change and fuck me over in the process is literally built into me. ”

“It’s going to be more intense than a period.”

Her temper flashes, and she throws the bowl of chocolates at me.

I dodge it and go for her, flipping her onto her stomach and spanking her curvy ass hard and fast with quick, brutal slaps.

I notice she’s not really responding the same way she did when I first did this, what feels like a lifetime ago in her office.

The first time I spanked her, she cried out like I was killing her.

This time she’s practically laughing at me.

The hell did they do to her in that place? She is different. There’s no denying it. She’s stronger. She’s wilder. Violence comes to her quickly, and there is no remorse. Not yet, anyway. I’m going to see what I can do about creating some.

I grab her by the hair and lean over her, baring her ass roughly to ensure there’s nothing between me and her naked cheeks.

“You know I’m not going to let any of this shit slide,” I growl in her ear.

“I know you were scared when you woke up in that lab, not knowing if I’d betrayed you or not, but now you know that I will never betray you.

I will never abandon you. And no matter how much of a little shit you want to be, I’m not going to let you get away with it either. ”

“You can’t stop me,” she says. “You saw what I did in the lab. You know what I’ve done. I’m a monster now.”

“You’re not a monster. You’re a very naughty girl,” I say, emphasizing the point with a hard slap to her ass. “You haven’t been listening to a thing I’ve been saying to you this entire time.”

“What haven’t I been listening to?”

“Exactly. Listen to me. You’re mine. I came for you. I will always come for you, and I am going to be your mate and your master for the rest of our lives. I won’t let you be taken from me again. I won’t ever trust anyone with you if I am not there. I will not allow you out of my sight.”

“Kind of sounds controlling,” she mutters into the duvet, then giggles with amusement at her own little joke.

“Sassy thing,” I snarl, spanking her ass again. I hear a little yelp that time. I might be getting through to her. I need to soften her a little, break through the hard shell that comes from having to protect herself and engage in a crime spree bender.

“I know you went through a lot, and I’m not going to give you shit for killing the people at the lab and stealing the car.

I’m not even going to get on you for not calling me when you could, because you might have thought I was in on it.

But the car chase? That was recklessness for the sake of recklessness. ”

“You never ever wanted to do something like that just to see what it felt like?”

“That’s called giving into an intrusive thought, and you can’t do it.

Whether we do what I want and disappear, or do what you want and go back to your life—which I am leaning toward, by the way.

You have to behave yourself either way. If this is to do with the procedures they put you through, we’ll deal with it. ”

I smack her ass again. Not as hard this time. Not everything has to be a harsh punishment. Some of this is just about getting her attention and reminding her that she does have to submit to me, even when she is feeling wild.

“I don’t want to find your body,” I tell her. “I’m worried that if you don’t start behaving sensibly, you’re going to get seriously hurt. My father is not a creature to trifle with…”

“Your dad’s a dick,” she curses, then giggles again. “And I mean it. I’m going to fucking kill him if I see him again. He got me drugged and sent me off to be experimented on. He’s fucked… ow!”

I start turning her ass bright red in earnest. Not even entirely sure why. I don’t want her pinned beneath me and thinking about doing dangerous things.

“You’ll let me deal with him, and everything and everyone else. I’m your mate. Your alpha. I’m your protector. I want you to let me actually do that. I can’t help you if you’re miles away driving into the nearest wilderness.”

She starts giggling all over again.

“I am not getting through to you, am I,” I snap.