Thunder (Alpha Love - a Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 3) (10 page)

“You don’t like it.” Ashton says it like a statement of fact, and there’s a hint of disappointment in his voice.

“I didn’t say that. It’s beautiful. Of course I like it. But I don’t understand, why are you giving this to me?” She looks at him for answers, but answers are the one thing that he never seems able to give her.

“It suits you,” Ashton smiles, satisfied, but there’s a look in his eyes as if he’s remembering something, like he’s somewhere else.

“This is the same rock as the one that I’ve been trying to figure out. What aren’t you telling me?” Sofie tries to keep her cool, but is finding it harder and harder to be patient, especially since patience is something she was never very good at to start with anyway.

“It will keep you safe,” Ashton tells her softly, reaching out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, a gesture so tender it makes her ache inside. She waits to see if he’s going to say anything else.

“You’re not going to tell me what this is all about. After everything that we’ve talked about tonight, before tonight, you’re really going to keep me in the dark on this. Yet another secret?” Sofie wishes she didn’t sound so desperate, so desperate to understand, to understand him, his world, and how she is ever going to fit into it.

Ashton doesn’t say anything, but the look that he gives her is filled with emotion, as if he knows that he’s causing her pain but it’s not his choice. He remains silent and when it becomes clear that he isn’t going to volunteer any further information, Sofie does the only thing she feels she can do. She turns around and walks out.

***

“You sure about this?” Lindsey’s voice on the other end of the line tells him that
she’s
definitely not sure about it.

“Linds, I need you to do this for me.” Ashton tries to keep the need out of his voice, but she’s known him for too long for him to be able to fool her.

Lindsey waits for a few seconds, and Ashton wonders what her turbo-charged intuition is telling her through the cell towers. “Alright, Ash. But only because it’s you.” She sighs, knowing that she’s not kidding anyone. She would do pretty much anything he asked of her. They’ve been friends forever, more than friends, he was the brother she’d never had.

“Thanks Linds,” Ashton breathes a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbles good-naturedly. “But I just want you to know that I don’t have a good feeling about this. The vibes are definitely landing on the side of the bad.”

Ashton nods grimly. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“So talk to her! Ask her whatever it is you’re afraid of hearing.” Lindsey knows it’s virtually impossible to try to reason with him when he’s got an idea in his head, but that doesn’t stop her from trying. “If you ask me to do this, you’re showing that you don’t trust her. And if that’s true, then you risk losing her altogether. Are you willing to run that risk? And don’t even bother lying to me because you and I both know how you feel about this girl. She’s different. You’re different with her.” Ashton’s silence on the other end of the phone is deafening. “Ash, are you even listening to me right now?”

“Tell Hector I’m sorry for dragging you away from him,” is Ashton’s only reply.

“He can live without me for a night,” Lindsey ignores the frown that immediately appears on her redheaded lover’s face. She sighs deeply, knowing that Ashton is avoiding facing up to his own feelings. She doesn’t bother to tell him about the flashes that she’s been getting, of the dreams she knows that Sofie has been having. “I’ll report back later,” she huffs dejectedly.

“You tell me everything, Linds; every detail no matter how big or small. Everything, not just what you think I should know.” Ashton grips the phone tightly in his hand.

“I heard you the first time, Ash, jeez. I’ll give you the full shebang if that’s what you want.” Lindsey tries to hang up before he makes her say the thing that she knows won’t give her any wiggle room.

“Swear to me, Linds.” Ashton’s tone is totally Alpha wolf; he who must be obeyed. Any other member of the pack would be cowed by the force of his words, but Lindsey’s known him too long for that.

“I swear, Ash. Now hang up the damn phone so I can go and do what you’ve asked of me,” she jokes weakly as they ring off. She stares at the cell in her hand before she starts getting herself ready.

“What’s going on?” Hector tries to catch her hand as she walks past him to change clothes.

“Nothing good,” Lindsey replies grimly.

Sofie drives towards Luke’s hotel, faster than she should be going partly because she doesn’t want to be later than she already is and partly because she wants to limit the time that she’s alone with her thoughts. She’s put the radio on loud just to drown out some of the noise.

She tries not to think about Ashton’s reaction when she told him where she was going. He looked like he wanted to go along with her.
Is it because he doesn’t trust me? Because he is afraid of what I might do?

She knows full well exactly what Ashton think of Luke and just how much pleasure it had given him to punch his lights out in the bar. But it hadn’t solved their problem. If anything, it had just made Luke even more set on getting what he wanted and that happened to be the oil in the canyon. Sofie tries to quiet the part of her brain that reminds her the oil isn’t the only thing that Luke wants.

She doesn’t have to be a mind-reader to know that Ashton would rip Luke’s head off if he tries anything with her. But that wouldn’t get them anywhere either. It wouldn’t save the pack, and it wouldn’t get rid of all the secrets between them. As she pulls up to the valet parking outside the hotel, she fingers the rock around her neck. For a split-second she thinks about taking the necklace off, but something stops her.

“Dr. Braun to see Mr. Calambor,” she announces herself at the reception, smoothing down her dress as she tries to ignore the bad taste the words have in her mouth.

“Ah yes, Dr. Braun, please take a seat at the bar. Mr. Calambor is in a meeting, but he’ll be right with you.” The receptionist plasters a fake smile on his face, one that he must use all hours of the day, and directs her across the lobby.

She takes a deep breath, girding herself to spend the next few hours in the company of a man that she despises. She knows that she needs to be there, not just for the pack, but for herself, too. She needs the advance on her salary, desperately needs it. She just hates the idea of having to ask Luke for what is essentially a loan. If there was one person that she never wanted to be indebted to, it was Luke. But, right now, she doesn’t have much choice. Between the Collector and Luke, she has to go with the devil she knows.

The bar is buzzing. It’s full of mostly business travelers, a few clearly meeting their mistresses while their wives are out of the picture. She takes a seat at the bar and, against her better judgment, orders a drink. She has no intention of getting drunk, but she could do with some courage. Something to take the edge off her argument with Ashton wouldn’t hurt either. She runs through what she wants to say to Luke, the facts of how things are progressing on site and how Darwin’s doing. Knowing Luke, he’ll be completely up-to-date.

But Sofie knows that he isn’t going to let her get away with just talking about work. That wasn’t why he had summoned her here, to his hotel, miles from Beaumont, miles from Ashton, miles from any of their co-workers, somewhere there wasn’t a chance that anyone they knew would see them. Luke likes to be in control, likes to exercise his control over other people, especially women. That’s what he was doing here; he was showing her that he was the one calling the shots.

As she sips her vodka tonic, a few men try to pick her up.

“What’s a beautiful girl like you doing in a place like this?”

“A gorgeous woman like you shouldn’t have to drink alone.”

“You must be a thief, because you’ve just stolen my heart.”

The lines get cheesier and cheesier, and she feels herself cringing as soon as they open their mouths. She smiles kindly and refuses their offer of drinks and their attention. It doesn’t escape her that as soon as she makes it clear that they’re not going to get anywhere with her, they become hostile. One man mutters “Bitch,” under his breath as he walks off.

It was something that she was used to. Insecure men seemed to think that they were doing her a favor by paying attention to her when all she wanted was to be left alone. She had no intention of embarrassing them or making them feel small, all she wanted was to be remain invisible, to remain under the radar. She never could understand why that frustrated so many men.

Her mind, as it always does, wanders back to Ashton. The more men she meets, the more it becomes clear how different he is—and in all the right ways. To begin with, Ashton doesn’t use lines; he doesn’t need to. What’s between them is as powerful as it is unspoken. She fingers the necklace he gave her, glad to have it with her, feeling like she has a piece of him with her now.

But that doesn’t stop her scientific mind from probing what it is about this rock that makes it different from everything she’s ever seen before. She thinks back to her encounter with Darwin in the office. It had only been that morning but it seemed like an age had passed between then and now. So much had happened. She remembers the way he stared at the rock, like he was fixated on it.
Was it the rock that had affected him? That had made him so angry? But how was that even possible? And if it were possible, what does it mean? It means there are more questions than ever, more questions than I have answers.

Sofie takes another sip of her drink, checking her watch and wondering just how long Luke is planning on making her wait for him. Over the other side of the circular bar, she catches sight of something; but, it’s more like a feeling. She could have sworn that there was someone over there staring at her. She looks harder, scanning the crowd but doesn’t see anyone. She shrugs, wondering if she’s really losing it this time.

As she turns to the bartender to order another drink, realizing she’s finished her first one alarmingly quickly she almost jumps out of her skin. Lindsey is standing next to her. The petite dynamo is looking sexy as always in a tight dress revealing a perfectly toned body.

Sofie blinks a couple of times to check that she’s not imagining the sudden appearance of her friend. “Lindsey! What are you doing here? Is Hector with you? You guys having a romantic night out?” Sofie looks around, assuming she’s going to see one of her favorite members of the pack, the easy-going, fun-loving Hector. But the way that Lindsey winces makes her realize that something is up. “Hector isn’t here, is he?” Lindsey shakes her head, having the decency to look a little embarrassed. “And you’re not here by choice.”

“Ashton asked me to come,” Lindsey starts to explain and then stops, wondering how much he would want her to say. If she knows Ashton, not very much.

“Why am I not surprised?” Sofie looks up, talking to whoever is pulling the strings, laughing it up as her life just gets more and more screwed up.

“He just wanted me to hang around, make sure that you’re okay.” Lindsey knows that this isn’t making what she’s doing look any better, but she’s just following orders.

“To make sure that I’m okay or to make sure that I don’t do anything he doesn’t want me to?” Sofie is angry, her eyes full of fire. “I feel like I’m being spied on. Actually, scratch that, I am being spied on. Doesn’t he trust me at all?”

Sofie’s raised voice has drawn some curious glances from the surrounding patrons, and Lindsey tries to calm her down. She was supposed to just be observing, she wasn’t even supposed to make contact with Sofie. But she couldn’t snoop around on someone that she considered a friend without at least making herself known.

“It’s not that. It’s just that he’s worried,” Lindsey tries to explain. “He cares about you, Sofie, a lot.”

Sofie shakes her head, like she doesn’t believe her. “He may care, but he doesn’t have any faith in me.” It’s a bitter pill to swallow that the only man to steal her heart is one who sends a spy after her. “Is it because I’m not like you? Because I’m not were? Am I ever going to earn his trust?” Sofie takes hold of the rock in her hand as she tries to keep the pain out of her voice, but she knows that she can’t fool Lindsey.

Lindsey follows Sofie’s hand with her gaze, eyes settling on the necklace she’s wearing. Her eyes go wide in surprise, and she shakes her head, smiling like she can’t believe the good news she’s just heard.

“What? What is it?” Sofie looks between Lindsey and the necklace, noticing the change that has come over her friend.

“It’s something that should make you see that it doesn’t matter that you’re not like us. It doesn’t matter to Ashton. It’s something that should tell you how important you are to him.” Lindsey smiles, satisfied, like a weight has been lifted off of her shoulders.

“And why should this tell me all of that?” Sofie looks questioningly at the shiny black rock she’s holding in her hand.

“He didn’t say anything to you? He didn’t tell you anything about it at all?” Lindsey raises her eyes to the heavens. “Men! Seriously, why do they find it so hard to just say what they mean?”

“You’re asking the wrong person, Linds.” Sofie shakes her head, taking another sip of her bitter drink. “So what can you tell me?”

Lindsey thinks for a moment, weighing up what’s hers to share. There’s nothing she would like more than to tell Sofie the whole story. “Without betraying Ashton’s confidence? Not a lot. But what I can tell you is that he has never given that necklace to another woman. He’s kept it locked up for years.” Lindsey sees that she’s not making herself clear and allows herself to say more than she should. “Let’s put it this way, if the workshop was burning down, that is the only thing that he would save. He would risk his life for it.” She watches as Sofie’s eyes widen. “It was his mother’s.”
There, I said it, there’s no taking it back now
, she thinks.

Sofie rubs the stone like a talisman, trying to make sense of what she’s just heard. “His mother’s? Ashton’s never talked about her. I’ve wondered, but I’ve never asked. If it was his mom’s and it’s so special to him, why would he give it to me?” She still doesn’t get it. She can’t wrap her mind around it.

“Because you’re special to him, you idiot! You’re important. You’re the one he’s been waiting for.” Lindsey puts her hand over Sofie’s, and she immediately gets a flash. It’s a split-second of an image. It could be a dream, or it could be a possible future. It’s so strong that it knocks the breath out of her. She blinks, waking herself up from the vision.

“Lindsey, what happened? Are you alright?” Sofie holds onto her shoulders, looking at her worried.

“I’m fine, fine.” Lindsey smiles shakily. “I better go. I can smell your boss’s cologne from down the elevator.” She grins lopsidedly at Sofie, but there’s no amusement in her eyes. She can’t get the image out of her head, the flash that she’d seen. There was blood, so much blood. Sofie was covered in it; she was clutching the necklace, and she was screaming.

Before Sofie can stop her, Lindsey has disappeared, slipping into the crowd, merging into the background. However, she can’t stop thinking how scared Lindsey had looked, like she’d seen a ghost. The thought leaves her cold, but she has no idea what happened.
Yet another mystery
, she thinks.

“I’m sorry I’m so late, Sofie dear.” Luke appears behind her, looking every inch the playboy millionaire in his perfectly fitted eye-wateringly expensive suit. “You know what it’s like, money never sleeps.” Luke shrugs, giving her a smile that would disarm most women, but it just makes her stomach roll.

She looks at her drink, wishing that she’d ordered a double. “Not to worry,” she says and smiles as brightly as she can manage, “I know how busy you are. I’m sure you must have a lot more important things to do so, if you prefer, we can reconvene tomorrow at the site office?” She knows that it’s a long shot, but she figures it’s worth a try.

“Sofie darling, you’re always thinking of others, always worrying about me.” Luke shakes his head like he can’t believe his luck, and Sofie wonders how it is that he manages to twist everything she says into a belief that she cares about him. He’s completely delusional. “But truly, there’s nothing I’d rather do right now than spend the evening in your company.” His sliminess makes her skin crawl. It makes it even worse to know that she needs his help. “Are you hungry? You must be! I bet the food in that Godforsaken town is awful.” He waves his hand; it’s only the smallest, imperious gesture, but a hostess comes running as if he’s rung a bell.

“Mr. and Mrs. Calambor, may I show you to your table?” She smiles adoringly up at Luke, who doesn’t bother to correct her mistake.

The hostess whose low-cut dress makes Sofie worried that her cleavage may go spilling out at any moment leads them through the restaurant, weaving through the tables. Despite being mistaken for Luke’s wife, Sofie is relieved as she looks around. The restaurant is busy. She knows that Luke isn’t careless enough to make a move on her in front of so many people, not when he can’t be sure of how she’s going to react. If there’s one thing Luke hates more than rejection, it’s public rejection. But her relief is short-lived as the hostess continues walking until they find themselves alone in a richly designed private dining room.

“I hope you have everything that you need?” The hostess keeps staring at Luke as if the sun rose and set within him.
Is it any wonder he’s so arrogant
, Sofie asks herself,
when he has people fawning over him all the time
.
A mixture of power and good looks is usually a winning combination, but in Luke it leaves me cold. Money can’t buy you a new personality after all.

“Bring us the champagne, and then you can go ahead with the food.” Luke waves her away dismissively, smiling at Sofie. “I hope you don’t mind. I’ve pre-ordered for us, so we can get right down to it without worrying about menus.”