Enslaved in Shadows (12 page)

The contents of her breakfast had already decided it wanted front row seats to the floor. She wasn’t a vegetarian or anything she loved meat just as much as the next person. But she didn’t want to witness firsthand the death of a chicken.

“Don’t worry, we have
the
common courtesy to not eat our food in front of everyone else,” Royce whispered in her ear over her shoulder. “If you look to the door on your left you will see it is marked private, and I know for a fact the walls are sound proof.”

“Really? Soundproof, that’s a relief.”

“You’re telling me, I was so relieved I almost didn’t come out.”

Gabe gave Royce a high five and they both said at the same time.

“Cassandra.
”
All dreamy eyed and tongues hanging out.

“Yeah,” Gabe answered.

“She has that delivery system of hers down to perfection.”

Delivery system
?
What the hell was she missing out on?
They screwed in the room no big deal. Five years ago, she had screwed in a jungle.
Don’t go there. Do. Not. Go. There.

Jesminda ignored them both and walked down the buffet table picking up slices of meat and cheese and picking up a Caesar salad and a
coke.
Gabe and Royce
followed behind her and each took a chair on either side of her.

“Baby sitting duty doesn’t start till later right?”

“Wrong.” Royce answered. “The captain said we leave tonight. If I know Stone he’s trying to figure out the best way to tell Melissa not only that he can’t make dinner tonight, but he’s leaving on assignment with his ex-one night stand of five years before her.” Royce laughed and swiped a small piece of cheese off her plate and popped it in his mouth. Jes smacked his hand out of the way and crowded her plate. On the other side of her Gabe nudged her playfully.

“It should be very interesting, wanna go watch?”

She didn’t want to know about his current girlfriend or any other woman before or after her. They weren’t even a couple back then, and never would be now. The only thing they had in common was Faith. He didn’t even know that very large detail. She was through with men, through with drama. She
just wanted a no nonsense life, and t
o live in peace, with her daughter.
She didn’t even know if she wanted to share Faith with him. Or his floozy of a girlfriend, she was not going to be the baby momma.
Oh, calm down! W
ho says she’s even a floozy?
She wanted her inner voice to stop being the voice of reason and be the voice of jealous ex. Dammit! She
didn’t want that either.  What she wanted was to be rid of the entire situation. The less drama, the better.
So what if he had a girlfriend. Not. Her. Problem. Ever!

Royce nudged her shoulder to get her attention and then motioned with his head towards the elevator.
Great
,
Conan the Wolfbarian just showed up.

Chapter 7

Draven walked across the cafeteria receiving the un-friendly look his new assignment gave him.
It wasn’t a "you should fall off the face of the planet" kind of look.
It was a more of a look of betrayal and hurt. She was in a tough spot and he didn’t want to be the cause of any issues
, s
hould any arrive
.
His wolf didn’t agree, instead a muffled growled became lodged in his throat. He pulled the chair back slowly, keeping eye con
tact with her the entire time.
He couldn’t look away. Not even if he wanted to. His wolf was on the defensive. Didn’t matter she was female or human. She challenged him, and he challenged right back. As he
sat,
she finally broke eye
contact and picked at her food.

“Ms. Zealand.” He used his calm voice when he spoke. He didn’t want to set her off again. “I would like to
get on the road within the hour
” before he could finish his damn cell phone rang. It was Melissa, again.
She hadn’t taken the news of his assignment well.
She’d argued someone else could do it. He still hadn’t explained his connection to Jesminda. There were only so many hours in the day and they needed to get on the road.
He’d have to explain to Melissa when he got back.
Closure is key
.
You need to handle that now. Not later.

“Stone.”

Royce took the opport
u
nit
y to smirk in his direction and elbowed Jesminda. Royce and his big mouth.
He wanted to have a conversation but not here and not like this.
If he got
up,
he knew it would look bad.
How so?
All four of them including his soon to be injured ear would be able to hear her scream into the phone.

“You didn’t even say goodbye Draven, nothing.”
She was using the pouting voice again.
In the
beginning,
it was cute, sexy even. But now it was a real problem. Especially in front of
t
his unwanted crowd. He started to rise and stand so he could take the call in private. Jesminda arched her brow in challeng
e
and continued picking at her food.

“You should eat instead of being concerned with my phone call.” Draven eyed his friends in challenge when Jesminda’s posture straightened and she pushed her tray away.
He pushed it back.

“Melissa, I have work to do, and I’m sorry if I didn’t say
good
bye, okay.”

Melissa sniffled a couple of times and then burst out laughing. “I’ll be down in like two shakes, Stephan said you went down into the mess hall so that you could eat something before you and the human,” she tried to sound polite but it came off as practiced, “take off to pick up her daughter.”

He wanted to be honest. He needed to be. Draven never imagined he’d run into her, or that Melissa and Jesminda would ever meet. Melissa was possessive, and it sometimes bordered past annoying. His mother said she was securing her place by his side. He didn’t see her by his side, not right now.
This should have been red light.
Was it because he was faced with the past or because he had feelings for someone else? Or it could be he’d known all along. His wolf wouldn’t accept another unless it was
her.
Fuck, if things didn’t get better and better.

Royce laughed a deep, a heartfelt sound. The table shook from
it;
Royce picked up Jesminda’s spoon and began rearranging her meats, stacking them on top of each other
.
“
Damn man I can’t wait for the sh
ow, Jesminda you have the best seat in the house
to
…
.”
He looked at his watch
, “
Friday night smackdown, which begins right after this commercial break.”

Gabe laughed an
d
politely excused himself. He mumbled something about always missing the good shit and he hated manning the computers. He rose quickly, took off in the direction of the elevator. Right on cue it dinged open and out walked Melissa. She walked over to where the three of them were seated. No one mistook her judgment of Jesminda. She took one look, sniffed, and dismissed. Melissa calculated everything, right down to when t
hey should start breeding pups.

Melissa took a seat and carefully as if on accident pushed the table towards Royce and Jesminda.
Draven would have never pegged her for spiteful.
Apparently,
he’d been wrong. Royce stopped it with his hand before it made contact with Jesminda’s stomach and placed an arm on the back of Jesminda’s chair. Royce didn’t care for her either.
Royce got along with everyone but not wi
th Melissa.

“Careful, your claws are showing.” Royce drummed his other hand absently on the table.

“So, what if they are?”

The entire situation needed to stop.
Jesminda hadn’t even batted an eyelash the entire time.
She kept her eye on her food, as if she knew Royce wasn’t about to let the table hit her. She didn’t so much as make a sound, not even a flinch. He admired her gumption. She may have issues with men getting in her personal space, but women were an obstacle she wouldn’t back down from. Before he could
apologize,
Melissa planted an open mouth kiss on him. She left no questions as to her purpose of coming down to the cafeteria. She meant to mark him before he left.

“Knock that shit off, Melissa,” Draven pulled her arms from around his neck and looked at her sideways. “Bef
ore I go
,
there are some things
we need to talk about.”
He was about to become a total asshole.

“That's
fine;
I wanted to talk to you as well.”

Jesminda stood tray in hand. She didn’t give them a second look and walked over to another table. She sat and began eating. Well the wolf in him didn’t like that shit one bit, and apparently neither did Melissa. The growl started low in her throat and she flipped her blonde hair back and pinne
d Jesminda with an even stare.
Royce rose and sat next to her a
s well. He was acting as a buffer
in her defense.

“Human, you don’t leave the table unless Draven gives you permission. The only reason he has to do this
baby-sitting
job is because the captain said so. He doesn’t want the job, and I don’t blame him. You’re weak
,
and the weak should be hunted.”

“Melissa!” Draven shouted
,
“You will shut up!”

Silence reigned and the others in the cafeteria directed their attention to the scene unfolding.

Slowly Jesminda looked up from her plate and grinned. She politely sipped her soda sat it back down and pushed her tray away.

“Oh, I’ll do a whole lot more than leave. I will go
wherever
the hell I want.
If your man doesn’t want to babysit me as he called it, he doesn’t have
to. Royce
is more than capable of protecting me. I didn’t ask for Agent Stone and I sure as hell don’t want to be stuck within a hundred feet of him. So do us all a favor, huh. Stop being the bitch you are and grow the fuck up.”

Draven watched as she pulled her hair in a ponytail. What was she doing? His wolf went on
the
defensive. Not for him or Melissa but for Jesminda. He’d grabbed Melissa’s wrist in a death grip before he knew he had.

“By the way, no one wants your man
,
least of all me.” She’d addressed them both in her statement. Making it clear to him as well as Melissa.
We’ll see about that.
The possessiveness was rising fast. He never acted this way where Melissa was concerned.
How many more signs do you need?

Jesminda stood, walked over to the trash and dumped the rest of her food. She stared at him for a moment. Her eyes told him everything. She was under the impression he
didn’t care about her feelings
or her situation. She was wrong. Seriously wrong.
He cared a lot. He did not want her running for the rest of her life with a child.
An innocent child should be playing,
not hiding
out with a friend
.
He was going to get them some place safe, catch Marcus and watch over them from afar. He owed her that much. Draven set his attentions on Melissa.

“Uncalled for Melissa, and childish.”
He let go of her arm and put his head in his hands. Time to face the music.

“You said you needed to talk. What’s going on baby?” She tried rubbing his back in a soothing motion.
He shrugged her off.

“Things are going to have to change between us.” Draven looked directly at her. He needed her to see the severity of the situation.

“Change? How?” He could see her shoulder stiffen. She may not know what he was going to say, but she’d tensed. Prepared for the worst. Jesminda was human
,
the fact Melissa choose to p
ick on someone weaker than her
didn’t sit well with him. A lot of things weren’t sitting well with him. Was he about to crown himself King of the assholes?

“There is a lot I need to explain, and not enough time to go into detail.”

“Oookaayyyy, just spit it out.” Melissa’s anxiety drifted into his mouth. It tasted vile, harsh.

“The way you handled yourself with Jesminda was immature.”

Melissa sat back in her seat and folded her arms.

“She doesn’t matter,” She waved a hand between them. “We matter.”

“You’re lucky I didn’t rip your throat out for the disrespect towards her.” Whoa! That was not the conversation he was trying to have. Melissa’s eyes grew
large
with fear. Her wolf sensed his anger. He was known for having a temper, but never with females.
He acted as if he was protecting his mate.