A to Zane (5 page)

“Wall, this is Zane.”

The new guy was no more than six feet tall, but made up for any lack of height with the broadness of his shoulders. Zane felt almost skinny next to him. Wall had the air of military service, just like him and Jones. Zane didn’t think he was still enlisted—the controlled air of a man still on active service wasn’t there.

“Dude, I’m so sorry.” Wall issued the apology with a broad grin.

Zane lowered his brows in suspicion. “For what?”

“Because my mate, his mate…” Wall pointed to Jones. “…and his mate…” He nodded at Heath. “…are totally going to have you on your knees.”

Zane snorted. “Is that right? And how exactly are three women going to manage to get me on my knees?” He was taller than Heath, the tallest of the three men. How they expected three females to bring him down he’d never know.

Heath cleared his throat and nodded behind Zane. Zane turned, expecting to see their women.

Abby stormed out from the back rooms. She wore a bright red corset that thrust her breasts high, begging for his attention. Her legs were covered in a long black skirt of a fine net, making it see-through.
Dayum! She might as well not be wearing anything.

The sight before him stopped his heart, stole his breath, and weakened his knees. He was grateful for the chair someone pushed him down into. He caught a peek of red heels hidden by the skirt as she stomped across the room. But it was her hair that really amazed him. Someone had managed to brush her long brown hair up and away from her face, showing off high cheek bones, stunning green eyes, and lips that begged to be sucked.

“How can you not have anything else to wear?” Abby’s aggression called to him from across the room. He watched as she spun, the skirt flaring a little to reveal stunning four-inch heels, and faced her cousin and friends.

“And that, dude, is how three women can bring a mighty tiger to his knees.” Wall spoke softly next to him. Zane wanted to argue, but he couldn’t. After all, the side of a building was right. If not for the chair, he’d be on his knees right now.

“And you!” Her voice carried across the room as Abby turned on them.

The air moved around Zane when all three men took a step back.

“I know this is your doing. Don’t think I don’t know it.” She stormed over to them, her eyes shooting daggers at Zane the whole time.

His tiger turned into a kitten, practically lying down and asking for its tummy to be tickled.

“You made them dress me like this, didn’t you?” She came to a stop, put her hands on her hips, and glared at him.

“Hey Abby doll,” Wall greeted her.

“Wall, Heath.” She nodded at the wolves.

Zane wondered if taking off their heads at a party would be appropriate.

“You look lovely tonight,” Heath offered.

“No, I don’t. I look like a whore. My people are here. I’m their boss. How am I expected to keep the respect of my team when I’m dressed like this, hmm?”

The last was directed at Zane, but he was still having problems getting his brain to function enough to move his mouth.

He was saved from having to reply when Nico came over to say hi. The bear shifter obviously didn’t know what he’d interrupted when he rested an arm on Abby’s head, something he clearly did regularly. Today however, he’d picked the wrong time.

Within seconds, Abby spun and latched on to Nico’s arm with her teeth, wrapping her arms around his.

“No biting!” Nico screamed. Zane stood, ready to save her, to pull her away from a crazed bear, but he stopped short when he realized he needn’t have worried. Nico was screaming like a banshee and dancing on the spot, but he wasn’t trying to shake her loose. He seemed to know she’d be hurt if he did.

Abby finally released him, dropped back onto those sexy red heels, and growled low before stomping away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Laney, Clara, and Rhea off to the side watching him with smiles. He opened his arms wide, letting all three women walk into a group hug. He didn’t care when their mates growled out a warning. These angels were worth it.

Abby wanted to die. She felt like an idiot. No, worse. She felt like a fat idiot.

She hated that word…fat. But it’s what she felt like right now surrounded as she was by shifters who didn’t seem to ever get fat and Laney, stunning as always.

Without any real thought, she found herself back in a dark corner of the bar.

How could they’ve done this to her? Didn’t they realize how wrong it was for someone like her to be dressed like this?

You disgust me. People like you should be hidden away where normal people don’t have to see your grossness.

The echo from her past floated through her mind, and she slammed the door on those memories.

Abby swallowed hard, fighting back the tears, praying for the time when she could sneak away from them all.

She’d gone after Zane, so sure he’d had something to do with this. The heat crept up her face. He’d done his best to embarrass her too. No doubt he’d find it all so funny, a joke, seeing her look like this. Anyone would; she looked ridiculous. Abby wrapped her arms around her stomach, closed her eyes, and willed the tears away.

Laney promised she looked good. She’d sworn everyone would think she looked stunning. Abby had started to believe her, but then she’d caught sight of her reflection. Yeah, who’d she been kidding? You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

Her anger had carried her across the room, but now the heat of her temper was gone, and she felt empty.

Logically she knew Laney and the others hadn’t done this to hurt her, but then again, they didn’t really understand what it felt like to be the joke.

They’d never seen the look of disgust on a man’s face when he saw you for the first time.
If
he saw you at all. Sometimes the indifference, being invisible, could be so much worse. Abby learned a hard lesson when she was younger, but one that made her realize she’d been living in a bubble for too long. In the real world, men like Zane didn’t know women like Abby existed.

“You planning on hiding over here all night?” The deep timbre of Zane’s voice made her jump.

Abby clutched a hand to her heart, willing it not to beat out of her chest.

“Yes,” she told him honestly when she could speak.

“Really?” Confusion shone from his eyes.

“Yeah, I don’t really think everyone needs to see me looking like this. Rhea said she’d laid out a buffet. Seeing me would have people losing their appetites.” She tried to smile but knew it was weak.

“Excuse me?” Zane’s jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed, and his hands gripped his slim hips.

Abby took a second to admire the perfectness of his toned body. A glinting of gold caught her attention and stole her breath. Zane had a small gold hoop through one nipple now. What she wouldn’t give to be able to play with it.

“I know what I look like, Zane. It’s okay.” She tried to reassure him. “I’ll just stay here until people finish eating, and then I’ll go and try to find my clothes and leave.”

Her chest hurt. The effort not to cry was becoming a physical pain. Abby needed him to leave before she made an even bigger fool of herself.

“There are some beautiful women here tonight. I’m sure you’ll find a lovely lady to keep you company. Please don’t feel you have to stay with me, I’ll be fine. I’m used to it, don’t worry.” The smile she offered wobbled on her face.

A couple of ladies Abby didn’t know walked by in costumes that showed more than they covered.

“Look.” She nodded toward them. “Those ladies there. I’m sure they’d be happy to entertain you.” Zane barely glanced at them before turning angry eyes back to her.

A nerve at the corner of his eye pulsed, and she watched as his eyes flashed between gold and gray. With a causal slowness, Zane leaned down and placed a hand against the wall on both sides of her head. When they were nose to nose he snarled, showing his fangs. Abby pressed back against the wall.

“Out of respect for the family and friends you have here, I won’t turn you over my knee. But if you ever say anything so goddamn stupid in front of me again, I won’t hold back.”

Abby’s eyes widened, and her heart beat wildly in her chest. What was he doing?

“If I wanted plastic and bones, I’d already be over there. What I want is a real woman with curves in all the right places. With breasts that make me want to sink my teeth into them safe in the knowledge I won’t get some sort of silicon poisoning. I want a woman I can fuck without worrying the friction of her skinny, bony body will start a fire.”

He leaned forward, nudging her hair away from her neck with his nose, and breathed deep.

“Your scent makes me hard and makes me think about doing really dirty things to you, things I’m sure would have your cousin locking you away from me.” He spoke against her throat.

Abby didn’t move. She stayed pressed back against the bricks, confused and turned on at the same time.

“Will you let me?” he asked.

“Let you what?” She spoke around the knot in her throat.

“Sink my teeth into your breasts?” Zane sucked her ear lobe into his mouth.

He was distracting her, damn him.

With a sheer force of will, Abby put her hands on his chest, pushing him away. Zane let her. She knew he wouldn’t have moved if he didn’t want to.

“No, you can’t sink your teeth into me, and stop saying stuff like that.”

Zane leaned back but didn’t move his hands from the wall.

“Like what?”

“You know…” Abby lowered her voice. “Stuff that makes it sound like you’re interested in me. People will think you’re crazy. They’ll talk, and I don’t want you to be embarrassed.”

She saw his jaw clench again. He moved quickly, grabbing her hand and holding it against his crotch. Abby knew her eyes went wide at the hard-on filling her hand.

“Does that feel like I’m just saying things to hear my own voice?” he asked.

Abby shook her head as his gaze held her captive.

Zane controlled her hand, stroking it up and down his hard length. With a groan he leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers.

“God, I can’t wait to get you alone. I’m gonna make you scream my name so loud it’ll even make Rhea blush.”

Abby didn’t know about Rhea blushing, but she sure the hell could feel her own face on fire.

He moved back from her and stroked a finger down her nose, a caress so soft if she hadn’t had her eyes open, she didn’t think she would’ve been aware of it.

Just like that, a click in the back of her mind, just behind her eye, sounded. The door, fighting to open on her past, slammed shut and locked. The fear and self-consciousness receded back into the shadows. Abby, the grown-up who accepted she wasn’t a model and didn’t really care, stepped out into the light.

With a shove to his chest she pushed Zane away. He only moved back a step, but it was all she needed. Abby side stepped away and turned back to face him.

“Thank you for talking me down. I had a…moment, but I’m fine now. Why don’t you be a good kitty and go find some other ball of string to play with, because let’s be honest, I’m not the toy for you.” She gave him a wink and walked away.

She heard Clara, Wall’s mate and part of the pack, say, “She is actually my hero right now.”

“I told you.” The smugness in Laney’s voice carried across the club.

Abby was stopped in her tracks by a giant, bear-size man. She might have been nervous if the man didn't have his bottom lip sticking out. Nico held his arm out where she’d bitten him and sniffed back “tears”. She felt bad. She shouldn’t have taken her aggression out on him.

“Aw, Nico honey, I’m so sorry.” She took the arm he offered and rubbed the still red area.

“You bit me.”

“I know, honey. Here, let me kiss it better.” She gave the area a quick peck. “Is that better?”

Nico sniffed but nodded. His bottom lip started to retract.

“Here.” She held her arms wide. Nico bent from his over seven feet tall height and wrapped her in a bear hug, literally. “I’m sorry, honey. You know my DNA gets the better of me sometimes.”

“It’s okay, Abby. We love you just the same,” the half bear, half human told her.

He might be a scientific impossibility, as were half the room, but the most dangerous, most unstable people in it were her and Laney—thanks to the DNA inherited from their mothers, less fondly referred to as The Twins.

A low growl came from the left. Abby turned her head but didn’t release her hold on Nico.

Zane stood there, his head dropped forward. He looked at them from under lowered brows.

“Oh look, it’s the pretty kitty.”

She could hear the smirk in Nico’s voice.

Zane’s growl grew deeper still. Was it wrong for her to find him so sexy when he was threatening her friend and employee? Dressed like sin with aggression pouring off of him in waves, he clearly made Abby crazy.

“Aww, are you feeling a little possessive there, kitty? How about I do this?”

Abby lifted a single eyebrow as Nico placed his hands on her butt. Hands he knew she’d remove if he ever did it any other time.

“And how about if I do this?” Nico, who’d practically been sobbing like a little girl minutes ago, leaned down and nuzzled her neck.

This time Zane didn’t growl, he roared, an actual tiger roar. In seconds the rest of her team formed a circle surrounding them and Zane. Damn them and their need to back each other up.

“Seven of us, one of you. What will you do, pretty kitty?” Nico taunted.

Abby came to the end of her tether. She stepped away from Nico.

“You are not going to ruin my friend’s party, and you sure the hell aren’t messing with a paying customer. So go back to your drinks, enjoy the night, and stop looking for fights.” She turned on her heel, taking them all in, making sure she made eye contact with all of the team. When they didn’t move, she snapped her fingers. “Move.” Like the well-oiled machine they were, each member vanished.

“And as for you, stop threatening my people,” Abby said to Zane, who was so busy glaring daggers at Nico she was sure he’d forgotten she was still there. “Okay that’s enough.” She slapped his arm, drawing his attention.