Lover Claimed (5 page)

His wolf projected another picture. This time
Meisha was on her hands and knees, naked. Her round ass was up in
the air, and she was staring back at him over one shoulder with
those beautiful eyes.

He was undone.

He turned around, hiding his growing cock.
Adjusting it in his pants right now would only draw more attention
to his embarrassing situation. Sometimes his wolf got real
particular about a female, wolf or human, but usually not during
times when there was work to be done.

Cool it
, he warned.

“I’d really like to get these lights on so I
can see if anything is written on the wall.” she said.

“What do the walls have to do with anything?”
he strained to say.

“Nothing much. I just want to look at
them.”

He shook the inappropriate thoughts from his
mind and turned around. “Get in your car and go home.” He frowned,
remembering that he hadn’t seen a car in the parking lot. “How did
you beat me here anyway? The parking lot is empty.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Pft, as if I’d
park my Yamaha R4 right outside. That would send the po-po here to
investigate.”

“You ride a motorcycle?”

“Yeppers. I ride a speed machine filled with
awesomeness.”

“I ride a MV Agusta F4CC,” he said smugly. If
she thought she had a good bike, she’d worship his. It was a
limited edition model that only true riders would appreciate.

Her eyes opened wide. Just the response he
was looking for. “No shit. How much are those things? About a
hundred grand?”

“If you have to ask, you probably can’t
afford it.”

“Don’t be a wise-ass. I was just asking you a
question.”

“And I’m telling you, forget about how much
my bike costs. You couldn’t afford it anyway on a teacher’s
salary.”

“Keep it up and I’ll knock you out again,”
she muttered under her breath.

“Again?”

“Yeah, again. Remember? I hit you with this?”
She pointed to her forehead. “And you went.” She rolled her eyes
and pretended to fall to the ground.

He pulled back his shoulders. Never before
had a female taken him down. “I was taken off guard.”

“Yeah, but you’re head of security. If I were
your employer I’d think twice about entrusting my company’s welfare
to you.”

“I don’t have employers. I own the company
with my two brothers. We work together.”

She snorted and walked around the desk,
messing with some of the objects on top of it. “Well, that explains
a lot.”

He frowned and crossed his arms over his
chest. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing. I’m sure they made you feel real
important when they gave you that job and title. You wouldn’t by
chance be the youngest brother would you?”

“What does that have to do with
anything?”

She held back a smile.

He shook his head. “I have better things to
do than try to figure you out. You need to get out of here and go
back home.” He went to her and pulled her from behind the desk. “On
second thought, you’d probably set off an alarm, if you haven’t
already.” He pointed to a chair on the other side of the room. “Go
over there and stay put.”

This was no time for a woman to be in his
way, especially if she just wanted to nose about and inspect the
walls. He had to pull it together and make her leave. He’d send her
right out the front door… Hold up. The front door had been locked
and alarm system engaged when he arrived. Of course he disarmed it
so he could complete his task without worrying about tripping an
alarm, but how had she gotten around it? It wasn’t sophisticated by
any means, but still, he doubted she knew how to silence it.

“Stay put? Like I’m a dog or something? If
anyone set off an alarm it was you. I came up the side of the
building and entered through the third story window. There weren’t
any alarms.”

He could feel the color draining from his
face. Did this woman have some kind of death wish? “You what?” It
took all his composure not to yell at her or shake some sense into
her head.

She lifted a shoulder. “I scaled the wall.
Don’t get your panties all in a bunch. It was the back wall, so
don’t worry, no one saw me.”

He shook his head. “I don’t believe you. I
don’t even know why I’m listening to any of this.”

“Whatever. I don’t have anything to prove to
you. I’m here looking for clues. I’m conducting my own
investigation. I’ll leave you to conduct yours.”

She turned away from him. Before she could
get too far he grabbed her arm, stopping her. “Let’s pretend that
you did in fact scale the wall and entered through the third story
window. How would you have learned something like that?”

She pulled her arm from his grasp and
continued to walk toward an office. “My dad.”

“Why would a father teach his daughter
something as dangerous as that?”

She stopped at the door, but didn’t turn to
look at him. “My dad taught me a lot of things that I’m sure would
be questionable in your eyes.”

He had no choice but to watch her walk
through the door and disappear into the other room.

What the hell was up with that woman? Meisha
had a dangerous streak in her. One he was sure men didn’t
appreciate. Hell, he shouldn’t be appreciating it either. She was
all hell and spitfire.

He pulled his gaze away from the empty
doorway. Meisha was nothing but a distraction. When he was done
looking for clues, hairs or anything of that nature, he’d be out of
here. And if Trudy’s computer was still here, which he doubted, he
would take it back to the hotel so that she could continue her work
on finding out who was embezzling from Dark Wolf Enterprises.

He forced thoughts of Meisha out of his mind
and concentrated on the desk. The computer monitor lay toppled on
its side and had a large crack down the middle of the screen. The
phone receiver dangled off the side of the desk, the cord was
stretched out and misshapen. He assumed the other wolves had most
likely used it to strangle Mark.

There were file trays lying on the floor, and
the papers he figured had once been piled neatly into them were
scattered about. A coffee mug with the words “World’s Greatest Dad”
was written across it, with hearts around the words, lay on its
side. Coffee—now dried, formed a black trail from the mug and
crossed the desk to only come to an abrupt stop. Speckles of blood
dotted the desk and had pooled in two different spots, one toward
the middle and the other near a sharp corner. They probably banged
Marks’s head against that corner.

Mark hadn’t stood a chance. Poor guy. The two
wolf-shifters had really done a number on him.

Lajos sniffed. All the blood was human, not a
trace of shifter in it. He hadn’t expected there to be. He didn’t
think Mark had gotten off any defensive licks, causing the wolves
to bleed or anything. But Lajos had still hoped for a lead. If he
could smell their blood he would’ve had an easier time tracing the
pack they belonged to. He looked around for anything else that
could give him some clues about who they were, and found nothing.
The local police would’ve bagged anything of importance anyway.

He opened Mark’s desk drawer just as Meisha
was coming out of Trudy’s office. “Her computer is gone. Do you
think those punks stole it?”

He rummaged through the desk, finding nothing
but extra pens and office supplies. “Probably.” He picked up a
small spiral notebook. It was small enough to fit into a
pocket.

“What’s that?”

Lajos could hear her walking toward him, but
didn’t bother to look up. He was too engrossed in his find and
didn’t answer her either. He opened the notepad and flipped through
the pages. Mark had written notes about doctors’ appointments,
physical therapy sessions, bills that were due…

Shifter.

The scent hit his nose. He let the smell waft
over him. He’d recognize that scent anywhere. It was from the
shifters he and Kristof had stopped from attacking Trudy earlier.
The same scent that also lingered in this office. He eyed the
entrance that led out to the hallway. It was empty now, but he knew
the wolves were in the building and coming their way.

His wolf growled, pacing in the back of his
mind. He wanted out. Lajos didn’t know what form the others would
come in but he knew most shifters, like him, preferred to fight in
their animal form. With Meisha here, he didn’t want to chance her
finding out about him, but if two wolves came rushing through the
door he would have no choice but to shift and fight.

“Meisha,” he said low, as he stuffed the
small notebook into his pocket. “I want you to go into the office
and barricade yourself inside. I’ll let you know when it’s safe to
come out.

She froze. “What’s the matter?” she
whispered.

“We have company. Go and hide now,” he said
urgently.

She dropped what she was holding and began to
take slow, tentative steps backward. “Is it the Yaruzi? Are they
coming for me?”

As much as he wanted to ask why she thought a
Japanese gang notorious for political corruption, drugs, weapons
and money laundering would be after her, he refrained. That would
have to wait for another time. “It’s not anyone from the
Yaruzi.”

With that news her features turned from fear
to relief then confusion. “Then who are we hiding from?”

“Whoever was here earlier is coming back for
another visit.”

He knew it was the wrong thing to have said
when she stopped backing away and narrowed her eyes. “In that case,
I think I’ll stay. I owe them a little something for messing with
my friend.”

Chapter Six

“Meisha, my order isn’t up for debate.” Lajos
kept his eyes on the door, anticipating the wolves to come storming
through. Their scent was closer than it’d been just minutes before.
He sniffed at the air again. They were just beyond the door.

His wolf pushed, trying to come forward.
Hold back
, he coaxed.
We can’t show Meisha
anything.

A picture of Meisha standing on the other
side of the threshold of Trudy’s office projected in his head and
then he flashed to another of Trudy’s door closed. His wolf was
sending him images of what he wanted Meisha to do.

He had to try again. “Meisha,” he said her
name more forcefully this time. “Trudy’s office. Now.”

From his peripheral vision he saw her crouch
and fiddle with her ankle. When she stood, she held a dagger in
each hand. “One day you’ll learn to stop trying to give me
orders.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to protect
you.”

She twirled the knives in her hand like they
were nothing but mere batons. “You do you and let me do me.”

Movement outside the door caught his
attention. He snapped his focus where it should be and readied his
stance. Meisha side-stepped to hide behind one of the
partitions.

At least she’ll be out of the way.

A low growl emitted from the door. It was
human, meaning they hadn’t shifted—yet. His wolf’s anticipation
grew at the challenge. Lajos growled back.

Challenge met.

The first shifter came across the threshold,
slow and predatory. His gaze darted side to side and then narrowed
on Lajos. Lajos tensed his jaw and balled his fists at his side.
His wolf sent him pictures of Lajos shifting and ripping and
tearing at the man’s flesh. The shifter made room for the other to
enter. He’d been right. They were the same shifters that he and
Kristof had chased from Trudy’s house.

One was larger than the other, but both were
bigger than Lajos. They had the muscled bodies of people who spent
a lot of time lifting weights at the gym. Most wolf shifters didn’t
lift weights because it made for a bulky wolf, and big wolves
couldn’t run as fast and didn’t have as much stamina as the others.
Lifting weights was left for the bears and lions, where brute
strength was needed more than agility.

The shifters were tanned, with dark hair. As
he stared them down, mentally cataloguing their appearance, they
did the same to him. They stood side-by-side, blocking the
entrance, as if they thought Lajos would try to flee.

Lajos smiled. They obviously didn’t know who
they were dealing with. He’d never run from a fight in his
life.

“Happy to be dying today?” the taller one
asked. He had a distinctive, heavy Russian accent, something that
Trudy had mentioned to the police earlier. The tall shifter
chuckled and elbowed the other one, who also laughed.

Lajos stretched his neck from side to side.
“A lot of things make me happy. Mainly killing rogue shif—” He
caught himself from revealing anything while Meisha was in ear
shot. “I like teaching lessons to assholes who go after defenseless
women. I find it…” He took in a deep breath, filling his lungs with
air. “Invigorating.”

The shorter one inclined his head toward
Lajos. “How much do you think we can get for the youngest pup,
Alexei?”

Alexei raised his shoulder. “Who cares? I’d
kill him for free. It’ll send a message to the others.”

“I told you we should’ve gotten them both
when we had a chance. Do you think—”

“Holy fuck,
Fedir
!
Shut up.” Alexei yelled, frowning and looking down at his
friend.

Lajos focused on what Fedir had said. “Do you
think what, Fedir? Your employer would give you more for killing
Kristof and I?”

Fedir looked over at the other shifter.

“Don’t open your mouth, Fedir.” And then the
shifter inclined his head at Lajos. “Are we going to fight or
what?”

“I’m always up for a good tussle,” Lajos
replied.

Fedir
let out a
growl and charged at Lajos, head down and hands out.

Lajos stepped to the side and shot out his
arm just in time to catch
Fedir
in his
neck. With an “Omph,”
Fedir
stumbled back
and grabbed at his throat. Lajos took the opportunity to jab
Fedir
two times in his face, sending
him
crashing to the floor. Alexei jumped
over
Fedir
and came charging at Lajos.
Lajos stood his ground, ready to do the same move, but at the last
minute Alexei crouched and kicked out his foot, hitting Lajos in
the knee before he could jump of the way.