Page 4 of The Alpha’s Hunger (Alpha Doms #1)

4

Ashley had abandoned lowering her eyes to glower at the man named Stanley.

“My problem, not yours,” Ben said.

What had he meant when he said he’d handle her?

“Yeah? So why are we here, then?” the aggressive wolf asked.

Ben’s jaw hardened. “Someone’s trying to kill me. I just need a little backup while I figure out who’s behind it.”

Stanley looked at him. “You’re calling in a lot of favors for someone who’s not even a member of the pack.”

He shrugged. “If you’re not willing to help, I’ll deal with it on my own.”

Stanley scowled. “You’ve already involved us. You brought a human into our den, and now she’s seen our faces.”

A low, unearthly growl emitted from Ben’s throat, sending shivers up her spine.

Stanley beckoned with both hands. “You want to challenge me for alpha? Do it. We both know you’d win. But if you just want to waltz in and pull favors without giving back, no one is going to fall in step behind you.”

Nothing changed in Ben’s face, yet she could feel his frustration.

A car pulled up outside. No one moved, the two men—or wolves—eyeing each other, tension radiating between them.

The door swung open. “Hey, Ben,” a middle-aged man with a shaved skull and a tight white t-shirt said as he walked in. Like the other wolves, he was stacked with muscles. In fact, they all looked like they stepped out of a fireman’s calendar. Except maybe a little less wholesome than firemen. There was a grungy roughness to the men that made her nervous.

“Hey, Mark.”

Ben continued to eye the other wolves as he shook hands with Mark. “Thanks for your help earlier.”

“No problem,” Mark said, looking from Ben to the pack leader and back again, most likely sensing the tension. “Do you have the explosives?”

A chill slithered through her body at the word explosives . She might have killed Ben. She couldn’t really blame him for not trusting her, could she?

He shook his head. “Not yet. I ran into a little trouble on my way out. I was hoping you’d drive me over there.”

“No problem.”

“And you want us to watch the girl,” Stanley said flatly.

“Yeah.”

“Who is she?”

Ben folded his arms across his chest. “She’s my assistant. She left the bomb.”

Five pairs of cold eyes turned to her.

She shrank in her seat.

“She was blackmailed.” Ben handed Stanley Ashley’s phone. “This is her phone. If the men who blackmailed her call, she has to pick up. Otherwise, don’t trust her with it.” To her, he said, “You tell them you have the laptop and you want to make the trade. You don’t know anything about the wolf. Got it?”

She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Ben looked at Stanley. “So, are you willing?”

The man nodded grudgingly. “Yeah. We’ll watch her.”

Ben touched her shoulder, sending a jolt of electric energy through her. “Behave yourself. I’ll be back within the hour.” He left with Mark.

She instantly noticed the absence of his powerful presence. Not only did the energy in the room change, but she experienced a pang of dismay, as if being separated from him unsettled her. She definitely had Stockholm syndrome.

The men pulled out folding chairs and opened them, sitting in a ring around her.

“So… you’re all wolves?”

Their leader gave her a cold stare, then turned to the other men, pointedly ignoring her. “What do you think?”

“About Stone?” asked the man beside him with a pierced eyebrow. “I think you were right to question his loyalty. I mean, I came because you asked me, but if he had called… well, the only reason I’d come would be out of respect to Leon’s memory. But that collateral is going to run out soon if all his little brother does is take.”

“Well, technically this is the first favor he’s pulled in the three years he’s been here,” a younger Asian man spoke up.

She didn’t know why she felt so relieved to hear someone speak in Ben’s defense. She definitely didn’t understand the politics underfoot, but she was catching enough to put it together. They were a gang of some sort, and Leon, Ben’s dead brother had been a part of them, but Ben wasn’t.

“Yeah, but where’s he been? Lone wolves are trouble, that’s all I’m saying,” muttered the guy with the pierced eyebrow. “You know how Arctic wolves handle lone wolves.”

“No, how?” the Asian man asked.

“The pack hunts them down and kills them. I mean canis lupine, not shifters. But I’m saying we could take a page from their book.”

The other men grunted in some form of assent.

She attempted conversation again. “You guys are a pack? And this is your clubhouse?” she asked, looking around. The warehouse was made of steel construction, like a giant barn. The floors were plywood, painted gray but covered in dark stains. Folding chairs and tables were stacked against one wall, and a row of lockers stood in the back. On one end it sported the features of any good man cave—a pool table, foosball, and dartboard. Otherwise, it was a big, empty space.

What did they do here?

Stanley flicked his gaze to her. “No one is talking to you.”

Her stomach rumbled. She had skipped dinner because she’d been too keyed up about the meeting. Now it must be pushing nine o’clock.

“Wanna play pool?” the pierced eyebrow asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Stanley got up and followed.

She was left with the young Asian and a huge hulk of a man, who the Asian man called Brian. They talked on and on about baseball statistics.

After what must have been forty-five minutes, she pushed herself to her feet, determined to find the restroom to at least get herself some water to drink.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Brian asked, pushing her back down.

“May I have some water?”

He frowned. “Yeah, I guess so. Don’t move.” Brian crossed the room to the door she had guessed to be the bathroom. When he returned, he had a plastic cup full of water and a roll of duct tape.

“Thank you,” she said, taking the cup of water awkwardly between her bound hands and eyeing the duct tape. Her fears were confirmed when he crouched at her feet and wrapped her ankles in tape. “That’s really not necessary,” she said. “I wasn’t going anywhere; I just didn’t want to ask you to serve me.”

“Finish up,” he commanded, holding his hand out for the cup.

She tipped her head back and downed the rest, then handed it to him.

He ripped off a small piece of duct tape.

“Oh, hey,” she exclaimed, trying to scoot down the sofa away from him. “That’s not necessary. I’ll keep qui?—”

The tape slapped over her mouth. She screamed between closed lips and brought her bound feet up, right between his legs.

Brian grunted in pain and his hand shot out, catching her hard across the cheek with an open palm.

She gasped, but with her mouth closed, couldn’t suck in enough air, her nostrils coming together and locking, which only made her suck harder until the outer rim of her vision started turning black and lights danced before her eyes.

Calm down. Exhale.

Tears ran out of her eyes, not from the pain of the slap, but from her body’s response to not breathing. She managed to get some air out of her lungs and back in, but it didn’t feel like enough. The assholes had already walked away, which was a relief, because she wouldn’t have wanted them to see her cry. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the couch, schooling her heart rate to slow down.

You can breathe through your nose. You can breathe through your nose…

She didn’t know how long she’d sat there like that before the door opened. She unglued her eyelids to see Ben striding over to her, his expression dark and furious. She shrank down, not wanting to be the object of his anger.

He peeled the tape off her mouth, which hurt like hell. She blinked to keep back the pathetic tears that had sprung up at her relief to have it off. Glowering, he put a finger on her chin and turned it, looking at her cheek, which still stung.

He stood up. “Who hit her?” he demanded.

The huge guy walked over and said without concern, “She kicked me in the nuts.”

Ben emitted a snarl and tackled the man in a flash, rolling on the floor in a tangle of flying limbs and inhuman growls.

She heard herself shriek and held her bound hands to her mouth to shut herself up. The other men gathered around, seeming largely unconcerned. Actually, they looked excited, like this was a cock fight and they had money riding on the winner.

“Aren’t you going to stop them?” she demanded, looking at Stanley, their leader.

He shrugged. “Not yet.”

Ben’s fist emerged and he slammed it into Brian’s nose, sending blood spurting in all directions. As it leaked onto the floor, she realized, with a lurch of disgust, that all the dark stains on the plywood must be from blood.

The men continued to roll and tumble, punching, and… yes, biting, slamming each other’s heads into the floor or against their own heads. Ben’s eyes glowed yellow, and his teeth seemed longer than human teeth.

“All right, that’s enough,” Stanley cut in, still without any tone of urgency.

Brian obeyed his leader, lumbering up to his feet.

Ben had not surrendered, and he launched another attack, but the three wolves grabbed him and pinned his arms back. “Stanley said enough,” the pierced eyebrow growled.

Ben stilled, but his muscles stood taut, face twisted in rage.

Stanley held up his hand in a signal for Ben to stand down. “She wasn’t marked,” he said mildly.

She wondered what the hell that meant.

Ben shook off the men holding his arms and stalked toward her. In a smooth motion, he tossed her from the couch up over his shoulder and walked toward the door.

“Yeah, you’re welcome, asshole,” Brian muttered.

Ben didn’t stop or turn, he just walked out the door and out to her car, where he gently set her on the trunk.

He drew deep breaths to regain his temper. He hated himself for leaving Ashley to be mistreated like that. What had he been thinking? Those wolves were not his friends. They were not even his allies.

“Close your eyes,” he muttered, realizing he shouldn’t have taken her out of there without the blindfold.

By some miracle, she complied. He grabbed the blindfold and duct tape from the front seat and wrapped it on. She was shaking, and her expression was shell-shocked. He wasn’t sure if it was from fury or fear. Probably both. He knew he should apologize; hell, he should be begging for her forgiveness, but he couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out what to say. There was no excuse for what just happened to her. And it was all his fault. He was supposed to be protecting her and he had done nothing but terrify and traumatize the woman.

Yes, she had left a bomb in his briefcase, but he couldn’t really blame her for that, could he? She hadn’t known what it was. And even if she had, it was natural she would choose her sister’s life over his. It was stupid to believe she might have some kind of attachment after working for him for only a week.

So why did it still bother him so much?

He was the one with the irrational attachment. And it was one that had already caused her a world of trouble. If he hadn’t asked Ashley to be his assistant, if he hadn’t been seen driving to her house and picking her up, moving her up to his floor, welcoming her into his life, she wouldn’t have been targeted as the best possible candidate to plant the bomb. Her sister would be safe right now, and she would be blissfully unaware of the wolf who couldn’t get her out of his blood.

He cut the tape off her ankles and helped her into the car. Climbing in on his side, he buckled her seatbelt.

She lowered her torso to the center, but seemed to purposely avoid placing her head on his lap this time. He didn’t blame her.

He put the car in gear and started driving. Despite how abysmally this meetup had gone, there was one more wolf who might be able to help them, and Mark Ruhl had given Ben his address. Unfortunately, the computer hacker Jeff Zolla had left Stanley’s pack for the Boulder pack, which meant he may not be willing to do anything for Ben at all. He figured it was better to show up in person than to try to call. But first, he needed to stop and see his sister-in-law because he had a bad feeling about who was behind this attack.

When he’d driven five miles, he pulled the blindfold off Ashley. “You may sit up now.”

She sat up, looking out her window and blinking at the streetlights. “So… what? You just roll around and pop people in the nose every time you get pissed off?”

He didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing. Thinking again of what that asshole Brian had done to Ashley, he ground his teeth.

“I don’t know what you were so mad about. It’s not like they did anything different to me than you’ve already done. I mean, you brought me over in duct tape. So they put more on. And he slapped my face. Well, you’ve slapped my ass. More than once. I’m your prisoner here, right?”

Her words hit him like a punch in the gut. She was right. He had treated her just as badly. Did it make it all right because he cared about her? Or because he believed he had a right to punish her for trying to kill him?

Spanking females was part of their wolf culture, just like solving grievances physically between males. But it must have shocked Ashley to be spanked. He knew he hadn’t harmed her. He’d been careful only to use it as a show of dominance, not to cause her lasting pain. And from her scent, he thought she found it exciting. But to think she felt as abused by him as she did by them made him sick to his stomach.

He was bad for her. Really bad. And while he had an obligation to save her sister and protect her from the men who may want to harm her, the selfish part of him didn’t want it to be at the expense of forever losing her esteem.

He abruptly exited Sixth Avenue West and pulled in at a Motel 6. It wasn’t safe to take her home, but he could at least set her free if that’s what she wanted. She had her car and her phone. He could shift and go on foot. He got out of the car and walked around to her side. He cut her hands free and helped her to stand.

“You’re not my prisoner. If you want to do this on your own, I will stay out of it.”

Her eyes widened and then narrowed. She folded her arms across her chest. “Fuck that, Stone. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

The wolf in him heard the challenge like some kind of mating call. Mad force took over and he pushed her back against the car, crushing her lips with his own. She tasted of berry lip gloss, her lips impossibly soft. He buried his fingers in her silky brown hair, made a fist and pulled. He wasn’t thinking, hadn’t even known he meant to kiss her, but when her tongue responded, licking into his mouth and tangling with his, the urge to mark her came on like a freight train.

He ground his painfully hard cock against her flat belly. He kissed her as if he might devour her, her sweet lips opening to accept his thrusting tongue, her fingers reaching to clutch his shoulders.

His skin prickled with heat, his vision turned sharp, and his canines began to lengthen.

Jesus Christ. He was about to mark her right there in the parking lot.

But damn, if he lost control, it could be dangerous for her. Hell, he could even kill her. When a wolf had sex with a female, his canines lengthened and he sank his teeth into her neck or shoulder. Biting caused instant submission so the female relaxed and allowed his domination. In the case of mating, he left his permanent mark on her—breaking skin to permanently embed his scent in her epidermis.

With a human, he shuddered to think what might happen—he could hit her jugular, and the pain he would cause her would be unforgivable. Especially because humans didn’t heal overnight like wolves did.

Get off her.

His body would not obey his mind. He pulled her head back and licked a line up her throat, nipping her neck. The act triggered the true instinct, and suddenly his teeth were out, fully extended.

He jerked back, twisting to the side to get her neck out of the line of his jaws as they snapped closed. He turned his back on her and started walking swiftly away, needing to put distance between their bodies. He drew in deep breaths of the cool September air, gazing up at the moon as if it might somehow help him find his way back to sanity.

“Ben?” she called out. Despite her tough guy act, he caught a note of vulnerability in her voice.

“I’m coming,” he said, his voice deeper than normal. He walked a wide arc around the car, as his vision returned to human norm and his teeth receded. He hoped the tightness in his pants would soon ease, too. After a couple of circles around his bewildered employee and the car, he came back to the driver’s seat, climbed in, and slammed the door without looking at Ashley.

She climbed in and buckled her seatbelt.

“I’m sorry,” he said gruffly. “That won’t happen again.”

She turned her head and stared at him, her expression a blank mask. What the hell did she think about all this?

Her phone rang. She dived for her purse, batting the phone out so it came flying up toward her face. She caught it with shaking hands and turned it over, looking at the screen. “It’s them,” she whispered as if they might hear.

“Answer it.”

“H-hello?”

“What happened?” the electronically altered male voice asked.

“Where’s my sister?”

“Your sister’s going to die if you don’t bring that laptop to us. What was that animal at the meeting place?”

“I don’t know—it came after me, too. It chased me into my car and I drove off without seeing where it went.”

A silence followed. Then, “Who have you talked to?”

“No one! Not a soul. I still have the laptop and I want my sister.”

“Be prepared to meet. We’ll call you with the location.”

“Wait—when? What time?”

“Tomorrow night.”

The line clicked off.

She looked up at him and exhaled. “Well, it sounds like she’s still alive.”

Maybe. He wasn’t too sure. The fact that they hadn’t brought her sister out of the car made him think they had no intention of letting either woman walk away.

She plugged her phone into the car charger. He was grateful she had one that worked on both their phones. “Do you think I should call my parents? I mean… they should know they might never see their daughter again.”

“No,” he said, lacing his voice with authority. “That would only endanger your sister.”

He half-expected resistance, but she just nodded. “Ben?”

He liked that she used his first name, even though it was impertinent. “Yeah?” He braced himself for another heavy question.

“I’m hungry.”

His initial relief at this easy-to-solve problem was overshadowed by guilt. He should have known she was starving. What kind of provider was he that he let his mate go hungry?

But no, she wasn’t his mate, nor could she be. He needed to stop thinking of her that way.

“Are you okay with fast food?”

“I’d be okay with dog food at this point,” she muttered.

He saw a sign for a cluster of fast-food restaurants and he took the exit and went into the drive-thru. With her blouse ripped and covered in blood, he couldn’t very well bring her in anywhere.

He ordered their food and paid for it, handing her the bag and getting back on the highway.

She unwrapped her sandwich and took a huge bite. “Do you want me to open something for you?” she asked with her mouth full.

Despite all the tension between them, he couldn’t help but find her cute. He experienced a flash of longing. This is what it would be like if Ashley was his girlfriend. Talking with their mouths full, laughing, comfortable with each other. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed with anyone. Definitely not since Leon and his father’s death. Not since he’d betrayed his family and left them to die.

Ashley stuffed herself, eating too fast. She leaned back against the seat, suddenly exhausted. “Where are we going?”

“First to my sister-in-law’s, then to see a guy who might be able to help.”

“Like those guys back there?”

He gave her a dark look. “I made a mistake,” he said. “I shouldn’t have left you with them. I’m sorry.”

For some reason, his apology hit her with a pang. She hadn’t expected any concessions from him, and it was easier to steel herself against his dark allure when he was being a jerk. Still, she’d known he was sorry. He wouldn’t have attacked that other guy if not. And while the display of violence had been somewhat nauseating, it also left her feeling more than vindicated.

“Listen, Ashley… I should have warned you before we went in. Never get mouthy or disrespectful with a wolf. It’s taken as a challenge to the power structure, and swift, physical retaliation will always follow to re-establish order.”

“Is that why you spank me?”

“Yes.”

“You enjoy it, don’t you?”

His eyes slid sideways, the corners of his mouth turning up. “I might enjoy some of it, yeah.”

She flushed, two parts angry and one part something else. Something slithery and fluttery that moved in her belly. “Heathen,” she muttered, moving her attention out the window.

“Ashley,” he said, looking serious. “I mean it—don’t offend anyone else. I know Brian asked for it, but this is important. If one of them had left a serious mark on you, I might have killed him. And then I’d have the whole pack coming after me, and consequently you. So it’s a big deal.”

I might have killed him. That piece of information made her slightly lightheaded. He did have a thing for her. She knew it.

“Okay.”

“Yes, sir,” he corrected.

“Yes, sir,” she said, only slightly sarcastically.

“Thank you,” he said.

She considered how much their relationship had changed in less than twenty-four hours. If it didn’t go forward, could they go back? Working at Stone Tech seemed like a completely different world now.

“Ben?” She didn’t know when she’d started calling him that. But considering she’d seen him naked and in wolf form, and he’d spanked her with her panties down, Mr. Stone didn’t seem right anymore. “Do you mind when I call you that?”

She glanced at his chiseled face, the stubble growing on his jaw making him even sexier than when he was clean-shaven.

“No.”

Would the man ever give more than the monosyllabic answer? His little speech about being respectful to wolves might be the longest he’d uttered.

“Do you think we’ll ever return to work?”

“Yes.”

“I mean… will I still be your assistant?” She held her breath. She wouldn’t blame the man for firing her. After all, she had stolen from him and planted a bomb that could have killed him.

“Yeah,” he said, but his throat sounded tight, as if he might be lying. Did he plan to fire her? Or worse… kill her? He had told the pack members that he would ‘take care of’ the fact that she knew about them. Was he just keeping her alive to arrange the meetup with the men who wanted him dead? Did he plan to kill her when it was all over? From what she could tell, he was a dangerous man.

“Will you still spank me if I get out of line?” she asked, trying to lighten her own tension, if not his.

It worked. Ben’s shadow-smile appeared, that little hint of amusement that crinkled his eyes and touched the corners of his lips. “You like talking about getting spanked,” he said.

Her pussy clenched involuntarily at his words. She held her breath, trying to ward off the blush she felt creeping up her neck. She plowed forward, though. “Who else have you spanked? Have you spanked Karen?”

“No,” he said, sounding surprised. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then who? Your girlfriends? Lovers? Were they wolves?”

“You were my first,” he said.

Why did that answer please her so much?

“You were my first, too,” she said, knowing she sounded like a little fool.

He actually smiled, which made her heart do strange things in her chest.

“So spanking is a wolf thing?”

He shrugged in the dark car. “It’s a common practice. It’s an easy show of dominance without causing any harm.”

“So basically wolves are sexist pigs who think they’re better than women and deserve to spank them?” She held her breath, expecting his irritation, but he smiled.

“No. I think some relationships fall more equally. But I’m a natural alpha. I don’t think I’m better than women. I just need to be on top.”

She considered that, remembering the words that had been tossed around at the warehouse. “I thought they said you weren’t alpha.”

It took him so long to answer she’d given up hope of a response, but at last he said, “I refused to lead my brother’s pack. I just didn’t have it in me.”

She reached over and touched his thigh. “Well, of course it was too much. You already had to take over at Stone and you were probably still grieving his death to boot.”

Ben’s eyes shot over to her, a muscle jumping in his cheek. He looked slightly alarmed, as if shocked she understood him. At least she hoped she’d understood him. But he picked up her hand and moved it from his leg, which made her want to crawl under her seat for the rest of the drive.

Why couldn’t she touch his leg when he’d just mashed her against the car and kissed the living daylights out of her? She slumped back in her seat and stared at the headlights of the cars passing them. Too much had happened that day for her to even try to make sense of it all.

He pulled into his brother’s circular drive in Golden, a western suburb of Denver. Nestled at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, Leon’s back yard featured spectacular views and even a natural, rocky mountain spring-fed creek running through. Motion-sensing lights went off, lighting the sidewalk.

“Am I coming in?” Ashley asked as he opened his car door.

“Yeah.”

She climbed out and smoothed her rumpled skirt, holding her blouse closed.

He rang the bell.

After a long time, Shayla spoke from behind the closed door. “Ben?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Sorry it’s so late, but I have to talk to you.”

She opened the door, her face tight, but she offered her cheeks for South American-style kisses. A female alpha, Shayla might be petite in human form, but was large, sleek, and fast as a wolf, with tan fur and yellow eyes.

“This is Ashley Bell. She’s my assistant at Stone.”

Shayla gaped at Ashley’s torn and bloody blouse. “What happened?”

“May we come in?”

“Oh, of course, I’m sorry,” she said, standing back to let them in. “What’s going on, Ben?”

He rubbed his face. He knew Shayla didn’t appreciate having drama dumped at her doorstep in the middle of the night when she had two kids asleep in their beds. Leon had been a perfect husband to her—providing her the lifestyle she wanted to be a stay-at-home mother. When he’d asked Ben to be their godfather, he’d made it clear that if anything happened to him, Ben’s top priority was to run Stone Tech to provide the same luxury and comfort his family had grown accustomed to.

He also knew Shayla didn’t necessarily approve of him and the way he’d handled things since Leon’s death. He could practically feel the judgment rolling off her in waves right now, and unfortunately, he probably deserved it all. God, did she know it was his fault Leon was dead? He hadn’t been able to look her in the eye since the day they buried the mangled remains of his brother’s body, which had been flown back to the States for the funeral.

“So why are you here?”

“May I sit?” he asked pointedly, although it was rude of him to highlight her lack of graciousness, considering he was the one crashing down her door when her kids were already in bed.

She blushed as he knew she would, and gestured toward the table. “Would you like something to drink? Some tea, maybe?”

He looked at Ashley.

“No, thank you,” she said, “but you wouldn’t have a shirt I could borrow, would you?”

He cursed inwardly. He should have asked Shayla for clothes for Ashley. What the hell was wrong with him? He should be more thoughtful about his woman’s needs.

“Of course,” Shayla said and disappeared into her room, returning with a small, mauve t-shirt, which looked almost child-size. She handed it to Ashley. “I hope this will fit,” his petite sister-in-law said.

Ashley unfolded it and held it up to her chest. “Thanks,” she said. “Is there a restroom I could use to clean up?”

“I’ll show her,” he said, trying to redeem himself. He led her to the hall bathroom and ushered her in, shutting the door behind him.

She turned to face him. “You don’t trust me?”

He didn’t sense any hurt from her, just a question at face value. “I don’t trust my own judgment where you’re concerned,” he said, stepping forward and unbuttoning the only remaining button on her blouse, the one between her breasts. The blouse fell open and he went dizzy at the sight of her lacy purple bra. It matched the panties he’d seen earlier. Her perky breasts filled it completely, flesh pushing forward out of its confines.

His cock thickened, pressing against his jeans zipper.

To his surprise, her small hands appeared inside his shirt, sliding up his abdomen, shoving up the fabric.

He sucked in his breath at the shock of her skin against his. “What are you doing?” he croaked.

“Didn’t you get shot tonight?” she asked, pulling the shirt higher to examine him.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, blinking to steady himself, He twisted to look in the mirror. The bullets had risen to the surface, ready to come out. He squeezed one of the wounds and it popped out.

Ashley caught it, turning it over in her fingers in awe. He repeated the action with the other.

“Shifters heal fast.”

“So I see,” she said, dropping the bullets on the counter and bringing her palms back to his torso. Everywhere she touched created a fire under his skin, his self-control ebbing with each passing second.

“Don’t,” he said, covering her hands with his own and pulling them away from him. This time, it was his hands that shook.

“Why not?” she asked, her voice husky.

“I’m losing control,” he said, picking up the shirt Shayla had given her and pulling it over her head.

She slid her arms through the holes and pulled the shirt down. It was too small—the fit was skin-tight, showcasing her perky breasts and flat tummy, making her look like a Playboy bunny. He couldn’t stay locked in the bathroom with her a moment longer. He turned and walked out, no longer concerned about what she might do in there. He vaguely heard the sound of running water as he walked away, trying to clear his head.

Shayla had put the teakettle on, despite their refusal of her offer, and was preparing the tea when he returned to the kitchen. He filled Shayla in on the evening’s events, glossing over Ashley’s part in the plot.

“Did you call Stanley?” Shayla asked tightly.

He blew out his breath. “Yeah. Mark Ruhl helped me with the bomb and Stanley and some guys met me at headquarters, but Stanley wasn’t thrilled about me asking for favors.”

Shayla traced a line on the table. “He never wanted to lead the pack,” she said without lifting her eyes.

He heard the blame in her voice.

“He only stepped up to keep the Boulder pack from taking over, and already, their alpha Bruce is poaching all our members who are dissatisfied with weak leadership.”

“You think my leadership would be any less weak?” he snapped, then immediately regretted it. It wasn’t her fault he didn’t have the balls to do what he’d been expected to do. “Never mind, forget I asked.”

“Why are you here, Ben?”

He rubbed his eyes. “I have a suspicion who’s behind this.”

Ashley appeared in the doorway, eyes wide.

“Who?” Shayla asked.

“Well, one person knew about Ashley’s new role and that she’d have the opportunity to switch out my laptop. And that same person would know the importance of what’s encoded on the laptop.”

“Jack.”

“Yeah.”

Ben had come to Shayla, because if it was Jack, he needed to know how much affection she had for the man who had been her husband’s best friend and business partner.

She seemed to understand because she said, “Do what you need to do,” in a hard voice.

He raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure?”

She nodded once, decisively. “If Leon had trusted him, he would’ve left the running of Stone to him. After all, Jack knew everything there is to know about it and he’s been there from the ground up. Why would he choose you? I mean, yes, you have a business degree from Harvard, but you’d never even worked for him.”

And he’d been gallivanting around like a party boy while Leon had worked his ass off to build a multi-million dollar company.

She left that part unsaid, but even so, it lay between them, along with all his other failures to meet his brother’s expectations. The teapot whistled and Shayla and Ashley had some conversation about which kind of tea she preferred while he wallowed in a moment of self-hatred.

“Mama?”

He whirled to see his little niece padding in her footed pajamas. “Ellie,” he said, jumping from his chair and swinging her up into his arms.

“ Tío, ” she exclaimed, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck in a strangling hold.

He pretended to eat her neck, making chomping sounds.

She squealed in delight. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I came to make sure you were in bed. What are you doing out of bed, young lady?”

She laughed, not taking his mock sternness seriously for a minute. “You woke me up,” she said.

“I’m sorry, mi amor . I’ll tell you what—how about if I read you a story and put you back to bed?”

“No,” the four-year-old said stubbornly. “I want to stay up with you.”

“Well, I’m not staying, angelita . I just came to ask your mommy something and now I’m leaving. What do you say, want that book?”

The child looked indecisive. “Did you bring your girlfriend?” she asked, changing the subject and staring at Ashley.

He ought to tell her Ashley was his employee, not his girlfriend. But the idea of having Ashley really being his mate, having her at his side at family functions, the way Shayla had been Leon’s, hit him with such a stroke of longing that he just wanted to pretend, even if it was only for a moment. “This is Ashley, muneca. Es muy bonita, verdad? ”

Ellie giggled. “ Tío has a girlfriend , Tío has a girlfriend!” she chanted.

“ Ya, mi amor. Let’s get you to bed.”

“No,” she squealed, kicking her feet.

“I’ll take her,” Shayla interrupted, reaching for his niece. “You should probably go.”

“I’m sorry,” he said to Shayla as Ashley sprang to her feet.

“It’s fine,” she said in a voice that really meant it wasn’t. “I think you should talk to Stanley again.”

He didn’t answer. He had a whole heap of shoulds hanging over his head as it was.