*Keera*
I turned off the cooker, moving my pancakes from the pan to a flat plate. It was still a little early but I had a few things I needed to do personally before going on with the day’s activities. Like reply to a few emails for one. I’d asked someone else to cover for me at work for the meantime. Well, Trevor had asked. And she was going to be paid extra but still. I couldn’t shake off the fact that the case had first been assigned to me so I’d asked that she keep me in the loop.
I pushed the button on the coffee maker, watching as the coffee began flowing into my cup. I rubbed my eyes, feeling a dull ache in my head from lack of sleep during the night. I’d just kept replaying the entire meeting over and over again in my head. I’d thought I’d imagined it at first but it was becoming more and more obvious that Ria didn’t like the fact that humans were in the pack. Or more specifically, she didn’t like the fact that I was in the pack.
And I didn’t even know her personally.
I wondered if maybe Ginny and Grayson had said something to her about me. Then again, I might be overthinking things in the way that I’m very much guilty of doing. They were going through a rough phase. It was understandable that everyone would be irritated that there did seem to be any solution in sight and ready to lash out at any time. Surprisingly Ginny had been the one to calm her down. I wasn’t sure why I had expected Grayson to say something but I’d been disappointed when he had just stayed silent.
But then what exactly did I think?
Expecting Grayson to stand up for me would be like expecting an elephant to take flight. Hell, the elephant would probably fly before Grayson would manage a word. But, whatever. I didn’t need him speaking up for me. I could very well do just fine on my own. I turned off the coffee maker just as I heard a light ruffle behind me. I instinctively reached for a knife from the cutlery rack and turned swiftly, directing the knife at the person who had been behind me.
Who just happened to be Grayson.
He was leaning against the doorframe, his sweatpants hung low on his waist, revealing just the start of that taunting v line. And he was shirtless. Grayson was absolutely shirtless. And he looked fucking hot. His dark hair was messy, but in an I-just-tumbled-right-out-of-bed-and-can’t-be-bothered kind of way. His strong arms were crossed over his muscled chest, and his eyes were fixed solely on the knife in front of me but that wasn’t what caught my attention. I was seeing his entire tattoo.
For the first time.
I lowered my hand, staring at it. It was the picture of a large wolf, its head resting over his right pectoral region and his heart. There were breathtaking swirls and designs made around the wolf’s head reaching up to his shoulders and part of his right forearm. The ink of the tattoo looked so dark against his skin it was almost like looking at an actual mind-blowing artwork. Beneath the design his chest looked hard and sturdy and. . .
Christ, Grayson was sexy.
How on earth was he so sexy?
I lifted my gaze to his then, knowing he couldn’t read my thoughts but still feeling tiny under his gaze for even so much as thinking about it. I already knew that aside from telepathic communication through the mindlink, werewolves could only read the minds of whoever they had mated with, true mate or not. But something in the way he was staring at me made me feel like he knew exactly the kind of thoughts I was having.
“Are you done?” He asked, his voice sounding rougher than I’d ever heard it. He leaned more on the doorframe, crossing his legs by the ankles and giving me a look that did things to my insides I was never going to admit. “My turn,” He stated without waiting for my reply. I barely had time to figure out what he meant when his eyes dipped from my eyes and began their slow torturous journey downwards. He let his gaze get to my feet before slowly trailing it back up.
I couldn’t hold back the slight shiver that coursed through me. I could feel his gaze on me like he was standing right in front of me and touching me with his hands. He stared at my bare legs, looking a lot like he wanted to walk over and spread them apart. His hands turned to loose fists at his sides as his eyes continued their walk upwards. I felt his gaze on my boobs, his eyes letting me know exactly what he would like to do to them. The thought of his hands on any part of me had my nipples hardening.
Fuck.
A tiny smirk played at the corner of his mouth and I quickly turned so I had my back to him. I let out a tortured breath, letting my eyes close and wishing my heart would slow the fuck down. What was going on with me? Since when did I let myself get affected by Grayson? “Not helping,” He said from behind me, making me realize I was half bent over the counter, giving him a nice view of my ass. His tone was a mix of frustration and amusement.
The amusement had me straightening and turning to level him with a glare. He wouldn’t be Grayson if he didn’t find some kind of pleasure in my discomfort. I inwardly cursed myself for walking out of my room wearing my sleeping shorts and flimsy tank top. He was standing over there so cool and collected while my body betrayed whatever composure I wanted to pretend that I had. “What?” He asked, meeting my eyes. “You’re the one who eye fucked me first.” His eyebrow arched. “I was only returning the favor.”
I picked my coffee cup, wrapping my hands around it and. silently thanking that my coffee was still hot. “There was no need to return the favor,” I said a little sharply, slowly gaining back control of my traitorous body. “You don’t like me, remember?” It was my turn to arch an eyebrow, taking a sip of my coffee.
He uncrossed his arms, leaning his head back against the door frame and simply staring at me. I held his gaze, taking another sip of my coffee as we both silently acknowledged that he had acted like a complete asshole that night. And had done nothing about it since then. The breath he released before curling his lips seemed to echo in the quietness of the kitchen.
“I acted like a dick.” He finally admitted, raising a shoulder. I looked away from him, biting down on my lower lip before I said something to ruin his supposed apology. “I didn’t mean it.” He whispered quietly, bringing my attention back to him. Hearing him say that he didn’t mean it when he had said he didn’t like me caused a warm feeling to spring out in my chest.
I ignored the warning blazing somewhere at the back of my head.
“Don’t think that this makes us buddies or anything,” I said casually, trying to diffuse the tension in the room. “We’re not friends.” I brought my coffee mug to my mouth, watching as his eyes went a little dark at my words. I narrowed my eyes when I spotted the small smirk playing at a corner of his mouth.
“Really?” He cocked his head, “Is that why your nipples were so excited to see me?” My eyes bulged at his words and I almost spit the coffee in my mouth. He had not just said what I think he had just said. When my eyes shot to his, his eyebrows were raised like he was expecting me to refuse his claims. His eyes dipped then to my chest and I threw an arm over my boobs before he saw that my nipples had hardened one more.
Without my permission.
I shook my head slightly, silently telling myself that I couldn’t let him think I was affected by him. Picking up my pancakes with my other hand while the hand holding my coffee remained glued to my chest, I walked toward the door, stopping when I was only a hair width away from him. I met his eyes, ignoring the butterflies that seemed to storm my belly. “If you say one more word about my nipples,” I said with warning, “I’m going to cut off your tiny werewolf balls.”
He smiled devilishly, stepping even closer until his chest was brushing against the hand on my chest. I tensed a little when he leaned in, his breath fanning against my ear. “Nothing tiny about them, princess.” I leaned away from him, shooting him a dark look before quickly exiting the kitchen. I silently let out a relieved breath that he hadn’t noticed the goosebumps on my arms.
I wasn’t prepared to have him hold that over my head.
***
Josie informed me that Millie’s parents were a lot more friendly than Tala’s had been even though Millie’s death was more recent. And unlike Tala, Millie had a younger brother about the same age as Ellie. Petra had dismissed him to his room when we arrived. We looked around the room as Petra disappeared behind a mildly rusty door to get us coffee we had politely turned down.
Her house had a cozy feel to it and although I hadn’t been to anyone else’s house in the pack, I had a feeling that it was more warm and comfortable than most. The paint looked a little old but it somehow contributed to making the house inviting. The surfaces of the furniture were looking clean and the general interior decor of the house had a feminine touch to it and looked carefully planned.
It was easy to see why Tala loved coming over.
I met Josie’s eyes just as Petra reappeared from the curtains, holding a tray containing two coffee mugs. We tried to turn her down once again, but she waved her hand in the air, insisting that she was having none of it. We eventually thanked her and accepted the mugs so we could get right down to what we had come for.
“Millie’s dad isn’t at home?” I asked, meeting her eyes. She smiled ruefully, shaking her head.
“He had decided to sit this one out, asking me to handle it,” She informed softly. She clasped her hands and put them on her lap. “It’s more difficult for him to talk about her.” I curled my lips, her words echoing in my head. Was she telling the truth or had he left because he had something to hide? And if he did, I wondered if Petra was aware of it and was trying to cover up for him or if she was actually as clueless as she seemed.
The truth would come out eventually.
“You informed me yesterday that Tala had never gotten here the day she had left her house,” Josie reminded Millie, taking a paper and pen out of her pocket. We’d already turned on the sound recorder earlier when Petra had returned with the coffee. Petra confirmed that she had said that. “But you had known she was supposed to?” Josie asked.
Petra frowned slightly, thinking back. “I remember that Millie had expressed her concern that Tala hadn’t arrived here yet that day,” She explained. “She hadn’t let me know directly that Tala had been coming over.” Josie scribbled something in her notebook while I watched Petra closely. She didn’t seem nervous. She was meeting our eyes just fine, her voice was as steady as it had been when she’d opened the front door and she wasn’t shaking her hands or legs nervously.
Frowning, I asked. “Why had Millie not tried to reach her over the phone?”
Petra turned her attention to me, meeting my gaze. “That’s what I found very weird,” She confessed softly. I slanted a look at Josie and realized that I wasn’t the only one whose curiosity had been piqued by her statement. Josie lowered her voice and asked what she meant by her statement. Petra raised her shoulder in a casual shrug.
“Tala never came over with her phone.”