Eve POV

“Hello Eve”, he smiles as he greets me.

I do everything I can to hold in my growl. Through gritted teeth and a low threatening tone, I demand, “What do you want”.

He’s trying to be gentle and reassuring but this does nothing to calm me down. “He wants to see you”.

“I don’t care what he wants”. I just glare at him while using my peripheral to decide on an escape plan.

I look across the table at my girls and get a mix of excited and angry faces. They had missed some huge gossip in my life after I just said I had nothing going on.

Michelle as usual is the first to pipe up. “I’m sorry, our friend here has clearly not filled us in on the details. Who wants to see her”.

“Billionaire Conrad Strongheart”.

Their eyes are so wide now that with the smiles on their faces, they look like Disney characters.

Kimberly instantly goes into her sickly sweet voice, “Why don’t you join us and tell us all about him and what he wants with our Eve”.

I protest as they don’t know the risk he poses or that they need protection right now. “What about girls only for the first two hours”. They quickly look around at each other and they give each other knowing looks.

“You’ve been outvoted. He’s joining us”, Michelle says proudly. “Firstly, what’s your name and what is your link to Mr. Strongheart”.

He pulls up to the seat next to me and starts addressing the group. “My name is Connor, and I work in his security team. My specialty is surveillance and intelligence, so I scope out and gather information to ensure the safety of the team”.

Kimberly and Michelle are currently swooning over his words and batting their eyelashes for attention. Willow seems to be deep in thought and analysing his words.

“Does he run the Strongheart foundation. There are several artifacts on display at work in the museum from his collection”.

“Yes, he does, among many other things”. He turns to me as he can now feel the blade I am holding against his femoral artery under the table. Let's him know I have control of the situation and that if he does anything to threaten us I will either kill him or cut off his manhood. He starts to squirm slightly in his seat to move away but I just apply slightly more pressure.

The girls don’t notice this interaction at all, while Michelle is furiously typing on her phone.

“OH. MY. GOD. Is this his picture? He’s Gorgeous. Is he really a billionaire? What does he want with Eve? How did he meet Eve? Why didn’t he come?”

Connor starts laughing. “That’s a lot of questions at once. Yes, he really is a billionaire. He met Eve a week ago during a mission and was very impressed. I think he has a bit of a crush on her as he has been moping around his house since then hoping she would come to him. He didn’t come as he tries to keep a low profile as he is very recognizable and that is why he sent me”.

With my anger growing, I ask him the only thing I needed to know. “How did you find me”.

“All soldiers wear cameras so we have footage from that day. We got a still of you and sent it to a hacker friend. He searched your picture and found your driver’s license. That gave us your license plate and your address, so I followed you here”. Connor starts to look at me very concerned as he can sense me getting angrier. He keeps trying to talk in a low calming tone which is difficult when I'm holding a blade to him. “We’re not your enemy Eve. He just wants to see you and make sure your OK”.

“I’ve been OK for years and don’t need him or any of you”. I stand up to leave hiding my blade from view under my jacket.

“You know he won’t do that”.

“Then I’ll just disappear again”.

He grabs my arm to try and stop me. I use the knife to slice his hand just enough for him to let go, get the message, and pull away. I re-sheath it before anyone in the bar notices but my girls are staring at me in shock. They look very concerned and scared now as they have never seen me like this before.

I start to storm out of the back of the bar making sure my girls are in front, and I can hear him yelling after me.

“He will keep looking for you if you don’t go see him and you know why”.

“I already told you, I don’t care what he wants or why. I’m not going back”.

As soon as the cold night air hits me I start to feel like there is not enough air in the world. It gets more difficult to breathe and the world gets smaller as my adrenaline rushes through my veins. I need to get home. I need to get us to safety. The girls know not to argue with me and get in the car.

As we pull out, I see Conner watching from the entrance, wondering if he has done the right thing.

Conrad POV

I’m up on the balcony waiting for the car headlights to come down the estate's driveway telling me Connor has gotten home. I can feel my wolf Jace pacing inside me getting more frustrated at second ticks away on the clock.

Since I saw her last week, she has plagued my thoughts. Her flowing chestnut hair, sapphire blue eyes I got lost in, the pale silk-like skin I wanted to kiss all over, and curves that make me want to hold tight and never let go. Even the amount of disrespect in her attitude was amazing. The fire and passion in her words make me want to tame her more. Make her mine.

At 1 am I see the headlights so bolt down the stairs to meet him at the front door.

“How did it go”. I couldn’t contain myself and was talking as soon as Connor opened the door.

Connor can’t make eye contact with me as he talks and just stares at the ground. “Her friends seem nice, but she was furious. Sorry Alpha King but she won’t come”.

The noise woke my Beta Liam’s and his half asleep brain starts to slowly put things together. “What the hell did you do”.

“Nightstalker found her, so I sent Connor to make sure she is OK. She’s been living with humans since she was 13. Can you believe that”. I can’t help the pride in my voice that I found her after she escaped the hunters.

Liam’s face starts to go wide-eyed with frustration. “YOU SENT A HUNTER AFTER A ROGUE AND YOU'RE CONFUSED AT WHY SHE’S PISSED AT YOU”.

When he phrases it like that it does sound bad. It’s not how I intended it to come across. Surely, she can see that as she wasn’t attacked. Right.

I try to defend myself to Liam. “You know that’s not what I did. Connor was under strict orders not to harm her or her friends. Just ask for her to meet me. And that’s what you did right”.

I look over at Connor who is nodding but I can tell he is leaving something out. “What else did she say”.

He takes a deep sigh and avoids eye contact again. “She said she is fine on her own and if we ever go near her again, she will disappear again”.

My heart dropped. I start running my hands through my hair to calm myself down. Jace is howling inside me and I can feel my breathing increase and my heart beating in my throat. How did I screw up this badly? I just wanted to see her again.

Liam can sense my turmoil and starts planning to resolve the situation. “Alright. Everyone into the study so we can work out what to do next. And you”, pointing a finger straight into my face, “you are not to do anything regarding her before running it past me. This girl is under yours and Jace’s skin you’re not thinking rationally. You’re also clearly not going to move on without some sort of closure so for your own sanity you follow the plan we come up with. Understood”.

Liam my be my Beta and second in command but he's always been more of a brother and so I always value his advice and support. “Fine”, I growl back.

Liam looks at me, a mix of concern and confusion on his face. “What exactly is your end goal here”.

The words leave my mouth before I process their potential reactions. “Jace says she is my mate, so I want her as part of the pack and to be my Queen”.

The study door shuts behind us and Liam turns to me with a horrified look on his face. “Are you insane. You know the dangers that poses to every member of this pack. Rouges have a permanent ban from rejoining all packs for a reason”.

Connor instantly agrees. “I get that she’s powerful, but she kicked our asses in the raid, has avoided detection in the human world since she was a pup and tonight, managed to slice my arm with a concealed silver blade in a public setting without a single human noticing. You need to get over this obsession and leave her alone”.

I charge across the room and before I know it, I have my claws out and my hand around Connor’s throat pinning him against a wall. My eyes glow with Alpha energy and I stare at his fear in his.

In a low growl, I sneer at him. “NO. She belongs with me”.

I feel Liam come up to the side of me and gently place his hand on my arm as he tries to get me to loosen my grip on Connor. “It’s alright buddy. Connor didn’t mean any disrespect. Let him go and we can talk about what to do next”. He always calls me buddy when he doesn’t know if it’s me or Jace who has lost control.

I release Connor and he starts coughing as he moves away from me. I go and get a drink of whisky from my office stash to try and calm my nerves.

I hear Connor mutter under his breath to Liam, “Could she really be his mate”.

I skull back the whiskey and feel the burn go down to the emptiness since I lost her. “Jace is certain. She’s mine”.

I can hear the hesitation in Liam’s voice as he asks for clarification. “I get that you or Jace might like her, but I have never known anyone to have mate bond. The stories we were told as pups of the Moon Goddess curse to take them away was just a fairy tale. Right”.

Doesn’t matter if this bedtime story is true or not, I can’t leave her out there to fend for herself anymore. I want her to come home.

Eve POV

The next few days in the house are so tense it feels like walking through electric storms and just waiting for loud crack to disrupt land. I’ve started doing extra hours at the vet clinic just to avoid being in the house which they noticed instantly.

I come home and I’m greeted with Kimberly waiting for me on the stairs. She instantly runs up to me, jumps in my arms and starts hysterically sobbing.

I do my best to console her. “What’s wrong Kimmy”.

“Are you angry at us. Is that why you are avoiding coming home. We’re sorry that guy was there on girls’ night. We need you to talk to us about this. We don’t want you to disappear”. She breaks out in more sobs as she buries her head in my shoulder.

I don’t even know what to say. I can’t have the hunters or werewolves coming for my friends. They could be caught in the crossfire. What if I can’t protect them. What if they think they are the enemy. I can’t risk it.

Kimberly cry’s have brought my other two girls into the hug and we all head into the living room as all squeeze onto the couch as Kimberly refuses to let me go.

Willow being every practical starts planning. “We need a solution. None of us want to lose our best friend of over five years so you’re not running away. You have a life here and you shouldn’t be bullied out of it”.

“You have no idea what you’re asking”. I just look down at the ground. They will never understand.

“Then tell us. I have known you the longest and I know nothing about you before the day we met. Why don’t you trust us” Michelle says very firmly. She is clearly frustrated that she is still cut off from my life.

I start pleading with them. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. You’ll be in danger if I let you know. Everything I do is to protect you so please just drop it and let me work it out”.

“Well, you’re going to have to start telling us something because since Connor showed up, we have become involved. If we are going to develop a safety plan and be strategic, we need to know something even if that is just knowing how much danger we are in”. Willow always states things matter of fact which is annoying because I know she is right.

Maybe if I tell them, it will be easier for them to let me go.

“I’m not exactly human”. All three girls suddenly sit up right. Even Kimberly instantly stops crying and stares at me with wide eyes.

“Of all things you could have said, I was not expecting that”, Willow states with a shocked expression.

Michelle starts laughing “I had a bunch of theories involving government conspiracy theories but that was not on my list”.

Kimberly looks terrified. She looks to me with a trembling voice. “What are you”.

“Honestly, that’s not important. I left that life to live as a human and have done since I was 13. To them, I’m considered a deserter”.

Kimberly starts shaking, “are they going to hurt us”.

“I don’t know. That’s why I need to leave. To protect you”.

Willow stating very matter of fact again. “Do we know what they want. Connor only said Mr Strongheart wants to talk to you. Maybe he does mean you no harm and wants to something else”.

Michelle agrees “I didn’t get any weird vibes from Connor. He seemed to be almost gentle when talking to you and said he would follow you if you refused to talk to Mr Strongheart anyway. Wait, is he not human either”.

“Connor. No he is. He’s just a …… gifted one. Mr Strongheart is like me though”.

I can practically see the wheels turning in Willows head. “Well the most logical thing is to talk to Mr Strongheart and work out what he wants and then decide from there. No point running in the meantime if he is planning to track you any way”.

“He’s already told me what he wants. He wants me to go back to that life”. This has always been my biggest fear, and the girls can tell from how my voice shakes.

With a fierce determination in her eyes Michelle proclaims, “Then all of us will create hell to keep you here”.