CADEN HALLOW stands boiling in front of the black TV screen. His brown eyes are the color of hell as he fumes in a rigid posture. He's aware of Casselba folded in on the small cushion and his ire rises to a third degree.
DID THAT FUCKING WEREWOLF MANIAC JUST GIVE HIM CONDITIONS !?!
Caden was a man who had power and authority most of his life. He was the one who 'gave men conditions' not the other way around.
To see Hiram torture Ren and treat him like some weak coward infuriated him; 'Spineless humans,' the bastard had called him. But what made his eyes burn and his ears smoke was when Hiram had insulted Casselba.
Worse of all, the man didn't even let him say anything.
It was quite obvious that Hiram was a power-hungry Oligarch, unfortunately blessed with superhuman canine strength, which now made him sorta like an evil Übermensch.
Caden clenches his fist.
How did the man ever think he would agree to surrender Casselba? He would gladly merge his company with the A. Group to ensure Ren's safety, but giving the beautiful woman on the sofa behind him...
NO WAY IN FUCKING HELL!
Hiram had given him till tonight. He looks down at his watch.
Eight hours left and minutes still ticking...
Caden knew he had to figure out something. A plan. And he had to do it fast. With this decision made he immediately turns around to face Casselba.
He covers the distance to the sofa in three long strides. Taking the space beside her, he lifts his hands to her face and pulls her chin up so her eyes meet his.
Casselba sees his smoking irises, darkened to the color of burnt grass. She didn't need lupine senses to tell that the man was furious.
She expected to face Hiram someday but she didn't expect to face him so soon. But she had to now. The Feral Alpha had given her no choice. The man clearly knew Casselba wasn't one to let another suffer for her.
The entire RavenClaw pack had been extinguished protecting her; she would die before she let it happen to anyone else.
She knew how vile Hiram was. The man would gladly enjoy killing Ren, even laugh with his pack of murderers as they watched the bodyguard bleed.
Casselba didn't know Ren but it was clear he and Caden were close. Close enough that she knew what she had to do. Even though she wasn't ready to face a Feral, the time had come.
It was now or never.
Her thoughts refocus on the hazel eyes before her, now tinged in gold due to his fury.
"I'm sorry, I have to go," she says, standing up.
Caden says nothing as she walks to the door. It's when she pushes the glass and tries to leave that she notices he had automatically locked the doors.
It was clear he wasn't letting her leave. Not yet.
...Not at all.
"Caden? Please unlock the door," Casselba starts.
"No," he rumbles back.
Casselba sighs from her place by the tinted glass. She faces away from Caden, only the black-mirrored wall meeting her eyes. She faces away from him because she can't bear to meet his dark gaze.
In his eyes, she feared she would lose her courage. Courage that was most needed for what she had to do.
She knew it right in her heart.
Caden wanted her to stay. It was absurd, but she knew the man would go as far as possible to keep her safe. For a human to do such for a Canine was a fucking miracle.
Casselba didn't want this; if not for her for the sake of the innocent man that was going to die if she didn't deliver herself to Hiram. She knew Caden didn't want her to surrender herself. She didn't either, but 'desperate times and whatnot...'
She still looks at the tinted glass walls as she voices out reason.
"Caden, I have to go. I shouldn't have come here in the first place. I shouldn't have let you into my life. My past is dark, full of horror and pain, and now I fear I've dragged you into it..."
As she talks, her eyes blur and in the mild reflection of the glass before her, she spies Caden walk across from the sofa to her. Two seconds later, she feels the heat of his body envelope her from behind.
Casselba doesn't turn as she keeps talking.
"You have to let me go. If you don't, Ren would die. Hiram doesn't spare people. He is cold-blooded and ruthless and—"
"I don't care," she hears Caden say, mouthing the deep words right over her neck.
"Look at me," Caden voices again, his words stirring her hair.
Casselba makes no move and he moves closer to her. His large frame towers over her, pinning her to the cold glass wall and she shivers.
She is shocked when she feels the heavy rise of his arousal tickle her from behind, rubbing softly over her ass. She is more shocked when she notices she softens too.
They were deep in the middle of a 'rock-and- hard place' dilemma but his scent and wicked voice still turned her on.
His hands slides over her waist and her drags her back, harder to the press of his impressive size.
"Look at me," he grows, deeper now.
A small whimper escapes her lips and Casselba finds herself lowering her head backwards to meet his eyes. They burn so fiercely they smoulder her with glinting light.
"I don't care how ruthless or cold-blooded the man is. I would never let you go back to those controlling men. I would chain you to my fuckin' desk if I have to. Do you understand me, Casselba?"
She gives a small nod. Caden was voicing commanding words and her body was doing other things. Bad things. Things she shouldn't even think of with a man currently being held hostage in her place... But she did.
"What about Ren?" she whispers, her eyes sparkly and her lips a hairsbreadth away from Caden's.
She moves her ass against him and he grits his teeth. His eyes now are darker than coals as he stares down on her. His hands trail up her body, dangerously skirting over her aroused breasts, just before he closes his fist over her throat.
"I'm currently thinking of a plan to get him out alive," Caden replies.
His voice is growly and thick, and it's clear he battles to hold himself from pulling out his dick and slamming into the sexy woman before him so hard she'll forget all about Hiram.
"I want nothing more than to drag you away to my office and devour you on my desk but right now, we need a plan."
Casselba too wants nothing more than the hot male clouding her from behind but Caden was right. Business first, then lots of pleasure later. Right now, they had an innocent man to rescue.
She nods her understanding just as Caden's lips descend.
It's a kiss of unconcealed want, a searing clash of tongue that speaks of the passion that would follow later, once they had dealt with the matter at hand.
Caden's pulls away and runs his thumb over her lips pink from their french kiss.
He peels away with a growl from her soft body and walks back to the couch. Casselba turns around from the glass walls to face the lounge once more.
She blushes when she spies him seated back on the sofa with crossed legs in a casual pose. The blatant evidence of his arousal showed clearly from his slacks.
Pulling her eyes away from this enticing wonder, Casselba walks back to him. She seats next to him on the sofa, struggling to keep her eyes from looking down below.
Caden wanted to go up against one of the oldest pack dynasties in the States, the Ferals. To do this, he needed information.
His brown eyes level on Casselba.
"What do you want to know?" she asks, eyes rooted to his.
His reply comes as a single word.
"Everything."
~. ~. ~.
~FIVE HOURS LATER
It's early evening, about four o'clock and about a dozen cars line the driveway of the Hallow Manor. The sprawling building rises before the parked vehicles in grand architecture of stone steps, front yard fountain, trimmed flowers, and luxury façade.
The vehicles in front of the Manor are all black vans with tinted windows. Huge men dressed in equal black stroll across the vans. Matching black bullet-proof vests are draped over their chests.
Guns and knifes peek from every available pocket of their army-style pants, and black combat boots dot their feet as they walk across the crunchy gravel of the driveway.
"Is everything packed?" a tall brown-eyed man calls to the group of men.
He is dressed like the other men; black military garb and armed to the teeth.
"Yes Sir!" a deep voice calls back.
"Good, we roll out in five."
The man who had just spoken and the leader of this elite force is none other than Caden Hallow, a man bent on retrieving his Head of Security from the grip of manic werewolves at the same time protecting the woman he loves.
As if conjured by his very thoughts of her, Casselba appears by his side. She looks to his with her pretty gray eyes.
"Please come back!"
"I will," he smiles at her.
She returns it with a disarming one of hers and moves in to give him a hug. They untangle when his son approaches.
"You think the plan will work?" Ryan asks, looking to his father.
Caden nods.
"Bring it in," he gruffs out.
His son walks close and the men hug, patting each other's backs.
"The Ferals won't know what hit them."
He gives Casselba a fierce kiss before he turns and walks away. He disappears into the troop of waiting ex-military. The men climb into their armoured vans. The doors close and they sweep out in a convoy of black vehicles.
...Off to the destination of creatures that only hours ago had been a myth to their human minds.