Page 9

Chapter 9

Dazed and Confused

VANESSA

W e’re headed back to my place from the screen test, Keenan driving, when my phone rings. It’s Laz. I answer, putting it on speakerphone, but before I can say a thing, a deafening screech fills the car.

Angel’s scream can only mean one thing… “I got the part!” I shout, almost as loud as Angel.

“You got the part, sweetheart.” Laz’s warm voice reaches through the phone. “Just talked to Wesselman. He’s going to send the contract over later today. I’ll have our lawyer look it over and we’ll decide if we need to negotiate.”

“Laz, I’m a nobody. Of course we’re not negotiating.”

“Negotiating contracts is part of the dance,” he insists. “I’ll be in touch with the details. Great work, kiddo. I’m proud of you.”

I hang up, every part of me glowing with happiness. I turn my grin on Keenan, whose eyes are on the road. “I got the part.”

“You don’t say? Thought you were discussing the weather.” Despite his teasing, his tone holds the same pride as Laz’s. “Knew you could do it.”

It’s because of Keenan that I nailed the screen test. He gave me the confidence I needed and maybe some of his wolfy mojo too. I’ve never done so well in an audition before. I didn’t stumble over my lines once!

“It was all you,” he says gruffly.

“Stop listening to my thoughts,” I scold, too excited to be truly offended.

“It’s difficult to ignore when you’re broadcasting them on a very loud frequency.”

Despite my excitement, I’m intrigued by Keenan’s ability to read minds. “How does it work? Can you hear only my thoughts or can you hear the thoughts of others?”

“Most of the time only you though there have been others.”

His vague answer makes me think he’s not telling me something.

“I can hear my brothers more clearly now than I have in centuries. It’s because we’ve reconnected and we’re spending more time around each other physically.”

I shift in my seat to face him, my curiosity brimming. “Does it require a physical presence?”

“No, I can hear you from great distances. It’s how I know to come when you need me.”

“When I need you?” I try to think of a time I might have needed him and maybe inadvertently called to him using wolfy telepathy. “When did I call to you?”

“You wouldn’t have known you were doing it. Mates send out emergency signals when they’re in distress. The recipient’s brain lights up with warning and the compulsion to run to our mates is next to impossible to ignore.” He glances at me with a serious look before returning his gaze to the road. “It doesn’t happen often with you.”

“Oh.” I don’t know how to feel about that. Good, I guess, that I wasn’t distressed enough to send out an invisible bat signal. “Can you give me an example of a time you came running?”

He doesn’t answer right away, then his brow wrinkles. “Last time it happened was two years ago. I was in a dead sleep when my brain lit up like New Year’s Eve. When I arrived, you were walking out of a building. You were uninjured but angry. I followed you. Tried to find out what happened, but your thoughts were a jumble of anger, frustration, and sadness. I couldn’t figure out why. I stayed close for two weeks, but you went back to your usual routine. Acted as if nothing had happened.”

A myriad of feelings rushes through me. The same fear, anger, and sadness I’d felt that night, if it’s the same night I’m thinking of. But I also feel a sense of calm knowing Keenan was close by, even if I didn’t know it at the time.

“Do you remember if the building had a sign saying Jeffries Casting Solutions?”

“It did.”

It was the same night.

Keenan pulls into the guest parking space out front of my building and turns the car off before facing me. “What happened?”

I shove the car door open, my voice taking on an unnatural tone as I say, “Come on upstairs. You don’t need to spend your day in the Jeep staring up at my window.”

He follows me as I pull open the front door and head up the stairs to my apartment. I open the door and lead him inside. “Home sweet home.”

He glances around, then turns his attention back to me, his gorgeous golden eyes sorrowful. “I can feel your turmoil, Vanessa. Please talk to me. Tell me why you feel this way.”

He presses his hand to his chest and I realize it’s where he’s feeling my pain. My emotions are balling up inside me. Everything feels tight, like I can’t breathe. And he feels it too.

I suck air into my lungs and let it out slowly, doing it several times until I can breathe normally. Keenan does the same, his muscles relaxing as mine do.

“Better,” he says.

“Yes, better,” I repeat, sinking onto the couch, a plush purple monstrosity I purchased for cheap at a second-hand store. I look at Keenan, knowing he’ll see the vulnerability written all over my face. I really hope I’m not misjudging a man I barely know, but my entire being is telling me I’m safe with him, which means I can trust him with my secrets.

He sits next to me. “You can tell me anything.”

I nod, unsmiling. “I’ve never told anyone this.” I stare across the room. “It’s cliche, really, but it was horrible all the same. Laz thought an appointment with Jeffries Casting Solutions would help get my name out there. I thought it was weird that they wanted me to come in on short notice and at night, but I thought maybe they had a specific part in mind. They… he didn’t.”

“Who is he?” Keenan asks gently, his shoulders tensing.

“His name is Bam Jeffries, the son of the man who owns Jeffries Casting Solutions.”

I can’t help the shudder that goes through me as I’m taken back to that night. His sweaty hands, his lips shiny from saliva, his wrinkled shirt, the overpowering scent of his cologne. I will never forget that smell. It’s burned into my brain for eternity.

A growl erupts from Keenan, but he cuts it off when I jump. “Sorry,” he mutters. “Go on.”

I take a breath. “I went in for my appointment, but he didn’t want an audition or to talk about what parts I’d like to play. My headshot had come across his desk and he liked what he saw. He tried using that age-old Hollywood line on me.”

Keenan frowns. “What line?”

Right. What would a wolf-shifter prince know of sexism in Hollywood?

“The one where they tell you they know people.” His frown deepens so I clarify. “They lure no-name actors into their offices, hotel rooms, wherever, and tell us if we have sex with them, they’ll whisper our names in the right ears. Usually, those ears belong to other powerful men who have the same expectations.”

Keenan startles me as he explodes off the couch, then starts pacing like a caged animal. “He propositioned you?”

“Sure, if you want to call sweaty pawing a proposition.”

Keenan stops and stares at me, his gaze so cold I barely recognize the man I’ve spent two days getting to know.

I recoil as a brutal vision leaps into my head. In it, he’s attacking a shadowy man, ripping out his throat and then destroying his body with such gleeful violence, I feel sick to my stomach.

“Vanessa, I’m sorry.” He drops to his knees in front of me. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

“I can read your mind!” I exclaim, switching gears entirely with my new discovery. “I saw it clearly!”

“You saw an image of my thoughts because of the powerful emotion behind them.”

“Rage.” I’d felt it as though it was me having the feeling.

He nods. “I’m usually better at containing my baser instincts, but it was a shock to learn you were assaulted. What happened? Did he… was he able to…?”

He can’t seem to finish, so I rush to reassure him. “No, I fought him off and left. Pinky taught me some dragon defense and it worked like a charm.”

“Dragon defense?”

I grin at the memory, despite how awful that night was. “Yeah, I roared in his face and jumped off the couch where he pushed me, kneeing him in the balls on my way up. Then I grabbed my purse and left.”

Keenan’s expression is a mix of admiration and anger. “Dragon defense was a great strategy. I’ll have to use it next time I find myself in trouble.”

I eye his massive 6’5” body, bulky with muscles. “I can’t imagine you get into trouble often.”

His eyes crinkle at the corners. “You’d be surprised.” His expression grows serious again. “What happened to the guy? Was he arrested?”

I can’t help the bitter laugh that escapes my lips. “A man in a position like him can bury a nobody like me. I never told anyone. Pinky would have shown him what a dragon offensive looks like, exposing herself, and Laz would’ve gotten himself blacklisted from the business on my behalf. It wasn’t worth the risk.”

“So you kept it to yourself.” Keenan sits next to me. He lifts his hand, pauses, then caresses my cheek. “Until now.”

I nod. “Until you.”

“I’m sorry, Vanessa,” he says in a heavy tone. “I should have been there earlier, should’ve stopped him. If I’d known, I would have?—”

“What?” I interrupt him. “There was nothing you could have done and it wasn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.” He flinches and I regret adding the last part. “I mean, I’m over it now and everything’s good.”

“But he’s still walking around out there,” Keenan growls.

“And so am I.” I shrug. “I do what I can to warn other actors away from that agency.”

Keenan’s gaze softens on my face. “You’re a good person.”

“Not really. I’d say I’m more of a survivor.”

His features twist with grief.

I touch his arm and say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He laughs bitterly. “You were the one who was attacked, but you’re worried about me.”

“We’ve had different experiences in life. I can’t possibly imagine what it’s like to be a wolf-shifter prince with countless responsibilities to an entire species. But neither can you know what it’s like to live in my shoes, a woman trying to make her way in an industry known for exploiting women.”

We both fall silent and I wonder what he’s thinking. He still looks upset, but I’m not sure why. I turn to him, hoping I’m not being too forward as I reach out to cup his cheek, feeling the softness of his beard, the warm skin above it.

His eyes are shuttered, but… I can see something in my mind. It’s me on the night of the attack, coming out of the building. I look distraught and now that he has context to the memory, there’s a mix of emotions. Guilt, shame, anger. No, not anger. White hot rage.

I do the only thing I can think of to push the memory from his mind. I gently kiss him. A shock goes through me like a thunderbolt, and he jerks back. I press my fingers to my lips as tears form in my eyes at his rejection. “I’m so sorry! I should’ve asked first.”

He grips my shoulders tightly and drags me to him, covering my lips with his. While my kiss was meant to be gentle and healing, his is scorching. I gasp, opening to him.

He thrusts his tongue against mine, then he’s inside my mouth, sweeping, filling, dominating.

My head spins and my stomach leaps with pleasure. I grip his shoulders, pulling him closer and tilting my head to get a better angle. My senses are going haywire, spinning and sparking until I’m left a trembling mess.

When he finally lifts his head, he says, “Was that okay?” His voice is gravelly, his eyes blazing with golden fire.

I nod, realizing he’s pushed me down on the couch, covering me with his body. His hard muscles press against my softness and a wave of heat goes through me as my brain registers the rock-hard cock notched into my thighs. “I’m good,” I say in a breathy voice.

He lowers his head and I lift mine to meet him, our lips touching, sparks flying. His breath mingles with mine and I can see into his head again, but this time it’s grass and trees passing in a blur because he’s in his wolf form, running, me atop his back, my red hair streaming out behind me.

Elation goes through me at my ability to see his thoughts and I wrap my arms tightly around him, pressing my body against his and returning his kiss with enthusiasm.

My unspoken permission seems to remove his restraint. He places stinging kisses down my throat and into my cleavage.

I tip my head back and he wraps his large hand around the back of my neck, lifting me to him as he nips and bites through the fabric of my shirt.

“Off,” I say, reaching for the hem, but he’s already there, tearing the buttons away and dragging it open.

He bites at the delicate skin above my bra then takes my entire breast into his mouth, sucking hard.

I gasp, arching into him. His fingers tighten around me, crushing, and I cry out in pain.

He jerks back. “I’m sorry.” He brushes his fingers over my skin. “I haven’t been with a human in a while, I need to remember my strength.”

“You’ve been with humans before?” I ask, dragging myself up, pulling the two halves of my shirt together.

“My past mates.”

I push away from him, frowning. “What do you mean by past mates? I might not know much about wolf shifters, but I do know you guys only get one mate. I thought I was yours.” I can’t help the hurt that colours my voice. What if he lied to me? What if I’m not his mate and he did all this to get… no that’s stupid. There are easier ways to get into my pants than the events of the past two days.

“Vanessa, I’m sorry.” He shoves his hand through his hair and moves back on the couch. “I thought you knew.”

“How would I know unless you told me?”

“I thought you would have Googled me by now.” He looks contrite. “It seems to be how most humans get their information.”

I feel like an idiot, but I don’t let the feeling linger. In the past few days, I’ve been arrested, discovered I have a wolf for a mate, got raging drunk with my friends, auditioned for the greatest part of all time, and was offered said part. I’ve been busy.

I stand. “You can make yourself at home on the couch. I’m going to bed.”

“Vanessa, it’s not what you think.”

I glace at his crestfallen expression and almost change my mind, but I really do need some alone time. I force my feet to move in the direction of my bedroom. “Goodnight, Keenan.”

I exit as gracefully as a woman going to bed at 4 PM in the afternoon can, leaving Keenan to sort himself out.