Leader of the Pack (6 page)

Cullen’s jaw was set. Jenna knew that the minute Aislinn left she was going to be in serious trouble, but Jenna was intent on making it clear that she was more than aware of his interest in Aislinn and that it didn’t matter because he belonged to her now. Cullen was almost ready to break Jenna’s foot off. Aislinn did a very good job of answering all of Jenna’s questions without sharing the information that involved Cullen. He also noticed that Aislinn refused to look at him and he figured that if his taking off with Keith that night hadn’t ruined his chances, this situation would. He had to do something about straightening it out the first chance he got. But for now he needed to end the foot job from hell.

“Jenna,” Cullen sharply interrupted her. Aislinn wouldn’t have believed that a tone like that could possibly come out of him. “I think that Aislinn has duties to perform.”

Aislinn knew a dismissal when she heard one. She immediately took the cue and left the couple to themselves. She could hear the tones exchanged as she left and knew they were arguing, even if she couldn’t hear what they were arguing about. She was trying desperately not to care that Cullen was here with that blonde, that he hadn’t told her that he was ‘Lord’ whatever, or that she had nearly slept with him only to watch him take off from her apartment as though it had been on fire.
I don’t care
, she kept thinking to herself.
I’ve got no reason to care. He was just some drunk that I met one night who did me a favor or three. I’m happy that he has a blonde bimbo bitch and I’m not at all jealous. I’ve got no reason to care.

Chapter 3

Burning embers are easily kindled.

-Irish Proverb

Aislinn went through the motions of serving dinner and completing the rest of her chores for that evening. Cullen and his date who, Aislinn managed to find out from another member of the kitchen staff, was actually his fiancé ate, their dinner in relatively short order and then left. Jenna had been conspicuously silent on all the subsequent visits that Aislinn had to make to the table and Cullen had managed to catch her eyes with an apologetic stare at one point.

Aislinn sat in the back of the taxi on her way home. She felt rich in her ability to afford the small luxury each night. Walking would have taken at least an hour. But she would have done it if it had been necessary. She figured that if tips continued the way they were that she would be able to afford to move out of her shitty apartment and closer to the restaurant in relatively short order. She was calculating how much time it would take for her to pay for her missed rent, pay back her friends for her jail break, afford an attorney to deal with Derrick’s lawsuit, and then move into town. Anything to keep her mind off of Cullen.

The taxi finally pulled up in front of her place and she slid out of the car, paid with some of her tips from that night, and headed toward the steps. When a figure moved out of the shadows near the main entrance and reached for her she turned, leaned back, and delivered a forceful kick to the figure’s chest. It was a reflex she had developed over the years and had saved her life more than once.

Cullen staggered back into the wall holding his chest and trying to catch his breath. He had to admit it had been a long time since anyone caught him off guard like that and he was shocked that she had been strong enough to knock him backward even with that consideration. He was still trying to catch his breath when she glared at him and headed inside without a word.

Aislinn fumed as she virtually ran up the stairs to her apartment.
What the hell is he doing here?
She barely managed to get her key out and go inside before he appeared at the top of the stairs. She slammed the door and walked across the room, threw her purse and coat on the table, and kicked her shoes off. After a few minutes without a knock on the door she figured he must have gotten the message and left. She paced a bit before she decided that she wouldn’t be able to calm down unless she looked to see.

Aislinn walked over to the door and stared at it a minute. When she started to feel like a complete fool she took the locks off and pulled the door open only to find she was face to face with Cullen. He took a deliberate step into her apartment forcing her back until he was able to close the door. They just stood there staring at each other without talking. Neither of them knew what to say.

Cullen finally started, “I need to apologize to you for Jenna-“

Annoyed, Aislinn cut him off. “No you don’t. Why should you have to apologize?”

Cullen just wasn’t used to people behaving with him the way she did. He smiled, chuckled and shook his head. “Do you have any idea how unique you are?”

Aislinn glared at him. She didn’t get what he was trying to say. All she knew was that she could smell him and he was so close. She couldn’t stop herself from wanting him and that was making her angrier and a little scared. “Do you have any idea how much of a jerk you are?”

Cullen had to laugh. When he saw the confused look cross her face he explained. “Sorry it’s just been a long time since anyone seriously called me a name to my face. I’m sure plenty is said behind my back, but they generally make sure I don’t find out.”

“Are you really this full of yourself?”

He continued to smile. She growled under her breath. The smile finally dropped. Why was she growling? There were too many odd things about her. He was tempted to just ask if she was some weird kind of lycan that he had never scented before. “Look, I just thought that I owed you a bit of an explanation. I know that we haven’t exactly gotten off on the right foot.”

“So what? Why exactly do you want to be friends so badly? I mean this is virtually stalking. In fact I’d say that you waiting outside my place is definitely stalking. I’ll admit that I do owe you for saving my ass the other night and for getting me that job,
Lord
Arnauk. When I figure out how to pay you back I will. But for now I think it’d be a good idea for us to keep our distance from each other.”

Cullen flinched a bit at the use of his title. He had never hated his position before, but between Jenna and Aislinn he almost wanted to disappear and let the rest fight it out, deal with the raids, and the politics on their own. He nodded and headed back toward her door. As he got to the doorway he stopped and turned to look at her one last time before he left. “I guess I just thought maybe I wasn’t the only one involved in that kiss the other night. I was hoping we could at least be on talking terms.”

“At least on talking terms,” she was glaring at him and her tone hit him harder than her kick had. “What are you trying to do? Start a harem? From what I hear you’re engaged to that blonde bitch.”

“That’s a long story,” he said, no longer finding her amusing.

“Okay, so explain why you would be back here after the other night and then dinner tonight? Why you could come back here and imply that you think we should be
friendly
.” She crossed her arms and stared at him, waiting.

Cullen shook his head. “You know what? Never mind. You’re right. I shouldn’t have come here. Sorry.” With that Cullen left and closed the door behind him.

Aislinn just stood there watching after him. As the argument she’d just had sunk in she threw herself down on her mattress sobbing. It was a long time before she fell asleep.

* * * *

Aislinn was standing in the middle of the street in front of her apartment. It was eerily dark and quiet. There were no stars or moon and the light from the street lamps seemed to be absorbed into the air as though it was being eaten by the darkness. The only sound she could hear was her own breathing and heartbeat.

Aislinn looked up and down the street and felt as though she was being watched. She looked up at her apartment. It may have been a hole but it allowed for some protection. She briefly considered going up there, but something in her told her that it just wasn’t safe any longer. She looked down at herself and realized that she was completely naked. She didn’t understand it but somehow it felt normal and safer to be naked than to be wearing clothes at that moment.

Suddenly out of the darkness she heard quiet whispering, unintelligible and frightening. She knew that she was in incredible danger. Something was coming for her.

Aislinn turned and started running down the street. She didn’t know where she was running to, but she felt drawn through the darkness away from the whispering. Every time she stopped she could hear the whispering getting louder. She turned down one street and then another until the whispering was so close she couldn’t stop to look around any longer. She needed to move faster. She could feel sweat running down her face and chest and back. The night air was cold on her bare skin. Her feet burned, slapping on the pavement. She needed to move faster. Slowly she felt herself changing. When she looked down she had fur and was on four feet. She was some kind of animal. She was moving much more quickly now.

As she kept running she could hear the whispering retreating a little into the darkness, so she stopped again and looked around. Everything seemed brighter now somehow and she reasoned out that it was because she was looking through new eyes. She found that she was outside of the Taigh-O

sda. She walked into the lobby and as the doors shut behind her the whispering became angry and frustrated. She walked through the empty lobby and found herself looking at a reflection of herself in one of the large windows.

It was a fuzzy image. The darkness outside caused the soft light inside to turn the window into an imperfect mirror. She didn’t recognize what she was looking at. She was on all fours and shadowy. She was staring intently into her reflection when a figure came up to the window. Terror froze her solid as Rafe stared at her a lurid smile on his face. She started to backup to get away from him, but he was calling to her. Suddenly the voices came into sharp focus and she understood what the whispering was. They had found her again.

Aislinn sat bolt upright in bed. She was covered in sweat and the darkness in her small apartment was overwhelming. She jumped up and turned on the lights. She stared around the room into shadows that couldn’t possibly hide anyone looking for Rafe.
I had another premonition
, she thought. Sometimes she wondered if it would be better to never dream. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes and concentrated on the last thing she remembered of the dream. She needed to get an impression of how close they were. How much time she had. She wanted to know what the other parts had meant as well. Why she had turned into an animal and why she had felt safe at the Taigh-O

sda.

* * * *

Cullen parked his SUV in the private garage attached to the Madadh-Allaidh Saobhaidh. He slammed the door shut and headed for the elevator. Once inside he inserted his key card into the elevator panel and pressed the button for the 13
^th
floor. The floor directly below that was mostly storage and empty. From the 11
^th
floor down to the lobby was the public hotel and the main face of the casino. The basement, which also needed key access, held the private training and workout facilities and swimming pool, and holding cells for the rare times that they were needed, as well as the security suites that monitored the entire building.

The 13
^th
floor was the great room and the floor that contained guest quarters when people came to visit his pack. There were always people in the great room watching TV. I never mattered the time of day. It was the main gathering place for people with nothing better to do. There was the movie room which was virtually a theatre, the game room, and a small kitchen/dining area. Cullen’s rooms were on the penthouse floor and had access to the roof. His key and a couple select others were the only keys that allowed access there.

He needed to take his frustration out somewhere. He had briefly considered hitting a punching bag downstairs, but that wouldn’t assuage the problem in his pants that had been developing all day. Between Jenna’s teasing, which only disgusted him, and Aislinn’s scent he felt as though he was going to explode. Upon entering the great room he spied one of his usual targets for this kind of outlet. Normally he didn’t go looking for company except during hunts out at the reservation, but desperate times as they say, and Celia was always willing.

He approached her with a heated expression and she looked up at him with her hazel eyes and a welcoming smile. He didn’t have to say anything to her. When she saw him coming she ended her conversation with the other women she had been watching TV with and stood up to meet the Alpha coming toward her. His determined look told her what he was after.

Cullen looked Celia over. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. She had on no socks and no bra from the looks of things. Cullen growled low in his throat at the thought,
That’ll make it easier.
He looked over at the couch and briefly considered taking all of them, alpha advantages after all, but then thought better of it. Celia, to date, hadn’t gotten attached to him and he didn’t want any additional female troubles right now.

Celia pushed a strand of brown hair out of her eyes and smiled at him in that innocent way of hers that belied what she really was capable of. “I thought with Jenna around you wouldn’t come looking for me any time soon,” she said with a pleased sound to her tone.

“I’m not going to be very nice this evening Celia,” he growled in warning.

Celia briefly considered that. It wasn’t as though she disliked rough sex. It was that he’d never felt the need to warn her about it before. In the end though, she knew that she wouldn’t turn down a chance to lie with him. She did a great job of giving him the impression that she could take or leave his company. But that was only because she had learned a long time ago that she would get more attention from him that way. There were about six females that Cullen had come to trade off in his bed over the years. Celia had become the unspoken leader of that small group of women and due mostly to her ability to appear off-hand and unconcerned with Cullen’s preference for her she had quickly become the favorite for ending up in his bed on the rare occasions that he was in the mood for company.