Fated Mates: Book 1 of the True Mates Series (2 page)

She screamed and tried to push him away. Instead, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pinned her to the door.

“Who are you?” he snarled at her. “Did someone send you here? You must know you can’t just walk into this territory without permission! Which clan do you belong to?”

“What the fuck is going on? Who – What are you?” she struggled against him.
 

“Don’t play dumb!” he snarled. “You hid your scent well, but you can’t deny this!” He lifted her hand to her face.
 

Her eyes widened as she looked at her right arm. Much like his face had done earlier, the bones underneath were stretching and crawling. Hair sprouted in patches all over her arm, growing at an alarming pace. Her hands and fingers lengthened, growing out sharp claws. She let out a scream and pushed against him. Then, she blacked out.
 

“Oh God, someone turn off the...sun…” Alynna groaned as she slapped her hand over her eyes. Her head felt like she had been hit a sledgehammer. Over and over again. She let out a groan as her stomach roiled, and she ran to the bathroom in her tiny apartment to retch out what was left of her last meal.
 

Flushing the toilet, Alynna slowly stood up, steadying herself on the cold sink.
Holy shit!
She was fully naked. And wow, how many drinks did she have? Her skin was pale and dry, her hair hanging around her face in dark, stringy strands. She had dark bags under her dull, almost lifeless green eyes. She searched her memories, trying to remember what happened. Was she out on the town with friends? No wait, she didn’t exactly have a lot of friends. None, actually.
 

“Fuck!” she slammed her palms on the counter. Greg Truman. Mrs. Truman. She was supposed to track him down and get evidence of cheating for her client. She racked her brains, trying to remember what happened. She followed Truman to Blood Moon, waited by the bar when he chatted up a girl and then…well, shit. Bits and pieces came at her. A handsome smile, golden eyes. Warm hands and then…

With an annoyed sigh, Alynna grabbed a Tylenol from behind the medicine cabinet, swallowing it then taking a swig of water from the faucet. Was she drugged? Did she drink more than she could remember? She washed her face and then wiped it with a clean towel before heading out of the bathroom.
 

She grabbed her robe from her closet and wrapped it around herself. Aside from the headache and blackout memories, she felt…normal. Actually, that awful headache was going away quickly.
The miracle of modern drugs
.

“Sorry Mom. Sorry Uncle Gus,” she said, looking at the two pictures on her work desk. One was a pretty, smiling young woman with blonde hair, who was holding a dark-haired toddler. The other was an older man, wearing an old-fashioned fedora and staring into the distance. Uncle Gus taught her everything she knew about the PI business and had been like a father to her. In fact, when her mom passed away when Alynna was fifteen, Gus had taken her in, since Amanda Chase never spoke of her father. Her mother’s brother was an old bachelor and worked late nights and long hours as private detective, but he fought to get custody of Alynna, despite only having met her three times. Needless to say, her teen years were interesting, and it only seemed natural she would take over for Gus when he died.
 

“Don’t worry, old man,” she said, “I won’t disappoint our client. I always get my man, after all.” It was strange to think of Mrs. Truman, as “their” client, seeing as Gus had passed away two years ago due to lung cancer, leaving Alynna to run Chase Private Investigations. She had learned the business, but more important, a good work ethic from Gus. She was only twenty years old when she took over, but she was already been on her own stakeouts since she was seventeen. There was not enough money to go to college, but she already had a career and a business by the time she was eighteen, so she didn’t need a degree.
 

Of course, there was not much time for anything else. Most days, she worked for fifteen hours and all she wanted to do when she wrapped up a case was crash in bed for some much-deserved sleep. No time for hobbies, a social life, or even a love life. She wasn’t sure this was Gus and her mom wanted for her, but it was what she had.
 

Pushing those thoughts aside, she sat down at her work desk, and tried to figure out how she would salvage this case. In the back of her mind, there was also the mystery of what happened last night, but when you’re a struggling businesswoman, work came first.

***

“Are you alright, dear?” Mary Truman asked as they sat down. “You like…tired?”

Alynna smiled weakly at her. “It’s part of the job, I’m afraid,” she fibbed. “But, I don’t want to waste any more of your time,” she handed the file over to the older woman.
 

Mary Truman was a beautiful, slim woman in her mid-forties. She had an ethereal, almost serene beauty about her, even though she was on the verge of tears. She was also a very sweet woman. Alynna almost wished she had taken the chance and kneed Greg Truman in the balls. Why the hell would a scumbag like Truman cheat on his perfect wife? She mentally shrugged. In her experience, men rarely needed a good excuse.

“I…I….” she pulled the pictures out of the manila envelope. “I can’t…I know these pictures…are you sure?” They were stills from the video she took of Mr. Truman entering the hotel with a hot young blonde woman. They were kissing and cuddling as they went into the lobby.

Alynna nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid so. I followed them to the hotel and all the way to their room. They didn’t leave the room for at least four hours,” she explained. “I have the full video and some, uh, audio I took from outside their room.” Mr. Truman and his paramour were quite loud and all she really had to do was stand outside their door and use one of her special microphones.

Mary’s hands shook as she put the photos away. “Thank you, Ms. Chase,” she said then leaned back into her comfy armchair and took a sip of her tea. Alynna didn’t have a real office to work from, so she met clients at a coffee shop a few doors down from her apartment. She had actually helped the owner with a big worker’s comp case a year ago and instead of her usual fee, the owner closed up a corner of the shop whenever she needed to conduct a private meeting.
 

“I’m happy to be of service, though I really wish it was under different circumstances,” she said sympathetically. As with all of her similar clients, Alynna gave Mary the card of a great divorce lawyer she knew (and always gave her small commission plus occasional free legal advice) before she escorted the older woman back to her car.

She watched Mrs. Truman drive away before turning around and heading back to her apartment. It was a beautiful summer afternoon, but she hardly noticed. Aside from sleepless nights, she was tired from the case. After tracking down Greg Truman for three days, she finally caught him. She almost wanted to jump for joy when she saw them enter the hotel room. Not that she wished all her clients were cheats (maybe 90 percent of them were) but she was just exhausted. Three days of no sleep took their toll. When she wasn’t chasing Greg Truman around Manhattan, she was having these weird dreams. Although she wasn’t sure if they were dreams – could one dream while awake? They started off pleasant enough. She felt good, wonderful actually. She blushed thinking about it. There was a hot guy with a bangin’ bod – tall, broad shoulders, abs, the works. She wasn’t quite sure what was happening in the dream but it was very nice. But then there would be flashes of golden eyes and then something that made her skin crawl, followed by a terrible feeling. She shook her head, trying to forget them.
I should really go to a doctor
, she thought.
Just to make sure I don’t have any weird drugs in my system
.

Alynna reached her apartment building, a four-story converted brownstone in lower Manhattan. It had been Gus’ place – small and tidy, and served its purpose well and she had lived there ever since she was fifteen. She had taken over the single bedroom, as Gus would often crash on the couch after long stakeouts anyway. She climbed up the stairs, said hello to Mrs. Anders, her neighbor on the third floor, before heading up to her own place.
 

As soon as she touched the doorknob to her apartment, she knew something was wrong. Gus told her she had strong instinct,
a natural,
he said. It wasn’t magical, but she had learned to hone and trust her gut over the past couple of years and right now it was telling her that something wasn’t quite right. With one hand, she took out the pepper spray can from her purse and the keys with the other.

As quietly as she could, she slipped her key in and turned it. Opening the door, she stepped inside. She froze as something hit her – a familiar scent. She couldn’t quite figure out exactly what it smelled like, as if she had never smelled anything like it before. It was male and masculine, and the closest thing she could compare it to was like she was walking in the woods after the rain. Memories flooded back and she staggered backwards, closing the door behind her. The man in the club. His hands all over her. Golden, feral eyes, and the claws. Closing her eyes, she remembered everything clearly, even the fact that it was her own hand that sprouted those menacing claws.

“We’re glad you’ve finally come back, Ms. Chase,” a deep voice said.
 

Her eyes flew open. “What the—mmppphh!” a warm hand came around her mouth and she was dragged up against a warm, hard body. The scent enveloped her again and she could hardly struggle, her body choosing to sink against the person behind her. With wide eyes, she looked towards her right, where a man was sitting in her armchair.

He stood up and walked towards her, his stance imposing and strong. He was tall and lean, though Alynna suspected he was probably well-muscled and compact underneath his impeccable gray suit. He had short blonde hair and sunglasses obscured his eyes.

“My name is Nick Vrost. If you promise not to scream, Ms. Chase, my friend will let go, ok?”

She nodded. What choice did she have, after all?
 

The hand around her loosened its grip, as well as the arm around her waist. She moved forward, but curiosity got the better of her and she turned around. “You!” she exclaimed. The guy from the bar. Did they…? Did this man and her….? Her memories suddenly came back, and she let out a sigh of relief when she remembered that nothing had happened between them.
Nothing major
. At least, not before she blacked out.

“Yes, me,” his hazel eyes twinkled. “Nice to see you again, ‘Alice’”

Her eyes narrowed at him, “What did you do to me? Did you put something in my drink to make me hallucinate? How did I get home that night?”

The two men looked at each other, confusion on their faces.
 

“I should have you both arrested for breaking and entering!” she shouted. “What the hell are you doing inside my apartment?”

Nick Vrost came closer to her and gripped her arm so tight, she didn’t even try to struggle. He took off his glasses, revealing icy blue eyes. “You don’t remember anything?” he asked, his gaze boring her.

“Oh I remember! This asshole drugged me and then pulled me to the back room to…to…” God, she really must have been under some powerful stuff if she almost had sex with a stranger! “But he must have put too much and I started imagining things! Then I blacked out! Did you bring me back here when you realized what you had done?” she snarled. “If you think I’m not pressing charges, think again!” she pointed a finger at the Alex’s chest.
 

Nick Vrost raised a brow at him and Alex just shrugged. The blonde man cleared his throat. “Ms. Chase, I think you should come with us.”

“Come with you? Are you crazy?” she said.
 

“If you want to know what happened that night then we can give you answers, but first, you need to talk to our boss,” Nick explained. “I promise it will be worth your while.”

Curiosity pricked at her. Her instinct told her it wasn’t a drug that made her see things and that she should at least hear them out. “Lead the way, gentleman,” she said. “But just in case, I’m keeping my cellphone handy,”
and my pepper spray
, she added silently.

Alynna looked up at the imposing building in midtown Manhattan, right smack in the middle of Madison Avenue. She knew these guys must have been hired by some big guns, but she didn’t realize
how
big.
 

Fenrir Corporation owned and was headquartered in one of the tallest buildings in New York City. The giant, black, obelisk-like structure rose to the sky, probably over 70 stories high. The ground floor was all luxury shops, restaurants, and commercial space, while the rest was devoted to offices for Fenrir and its subsidiaries and related businesses
.
A lot of businesses. Fenrir had a hand in almost every type of industry, from shipping to manufacturing to retail.
Jeez, I hope I didn’t piss off anyone important
, she thought as the luxurious town car pulled into the basement garage of the building.
 

She sat in the back of the car, her arms crossed over her chest. “Where are we going?” she asked for about the hundredth time since she went with them. And for the hundredth time, her question was met with silence. Alex drove the car while Nick sat in front, so she couldn’t read their faces. She was pretty sure the doors were locked from the outside, so she couldn’t just jump out, even if she wanted to. It would have been nice, however, to have that option if it was necessary.

The car stopped and Nick stepped out, then headed to the opaque glass doors on the right. Alex stepped out and walked around to her side, opening the door. Ignoring his offered hand and cheeky smile, she walked out and followed right behind Nick.

The glass doors opened up to reveal a small receiving room, where a burly guard sat at a desk. He looked at Alynna, but when Nick nodded at him, he turned back to watching the monitors.