Chapter 2

Eighteen years later...

Aaron Lobo loved his life. He answered to no one, was bound to no pack, and did exactly as he pleased. And today, all he wanted to do was snooze in the sun on the hammock in his backyard. Well, one could call it a backyard if they really stretched their imagination. It looked more like a junkyard with piles of rusted metal and spare auto parts that had accumulated unfathomably after he had started his car repair shop in the garage adjacent to his house. He was good with his hands and had discovered that rich people were willing to pay the top dollar to maintain their expensive cars.

When he had set out on his own the previous year, he had chosen wisely when he had decided to settle down on the fringes of Rockedge, one of the richest, most exclusive, and most secluded towns in the country, situated in the Mojave desert. It was an added advantage that most of his rich clients only came to the town on weekends, which meant that the town was practically devoid of humans during the weekdays. Suited him just fine. He liked his solitude. He liked the little wooden cottage he called home. He liked the dilapidated garage where he worked.

The sun was low on the horizon, and he knew that if he moved the baseball cap covering his face and opened his eyes, the sky would be a riot of colors. Sunsets were always spectacular in the desert. He could almost hear his mother’s voice in his head, telling him to take a moment to appreciate nature, to admire the beauty, to stop and smell the roses, to be thankful. She had also told him many other things that had turned out to be big, fat lies, he thought as his jaw clenched and his throat strangely felt clogged. Sitting up, he took a large swig from the can of beer he had balanced on an upturned metal bucket, swallowing the lump in his throat along with the beer.

“Fuck it,” he said out loud, rubbing a hand on his face. He might as well look at the fucking sunset, he thought taking another swig from the can. Anything to distract himself from the potent combination of resentment, guilt and anger he felt whenever he thought of his mother.

It was because his head had been messed up with all those emotions that he hadn’t smelled her, he told himself later.

“Aaron Lobo? You’re Aaron Lobo?”

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on their ends as he turned to face her. He knew what she was, even if he didn’t know who she was. If his brain hadn’t been so addled, he would have smelled her much sooner and taken the necessary precautions.

Had his mother sent this... female? Had his mother finally managed to find him in Rockedge? Soon after leaving his pack, when he hadn’t been too careful, his mother’s goons had found him three times. But so far, Rockedge had proved to be safe, probably because it was a human town, not a shifter town.

“Who wants to know?” He asked evenly as he turned to face her. She wasn’t what he had expected. For one thing, she was a lot more petite than females of her kind. And for another, she was bloody beautiful. She also smelled different. It wasn’t the potent, pungent smell he was used to but rather a much milder, sweeter, seductive scent. She was dressed in figure hugging, low-waist jeans and a cropped top that exposed her belly button and dipped low at the neck, exposing the tops of her milky-white breasts. A spear of lust shot to his groin.

Was this some new strategy his mother had come up with? Send a female to seduce him back to his pack? And for what? So he could kill his best friend? Former best friend, current half-fucking-brother, he reminded himself, bitter bile rising up his throat.

He would have never guessed that she would stoop so low. But then again, he would put nothing past his mother, he thought as he took in the heart-shaped face of the female standing in front of him, with her lush, pouty mouth, big hazel eyes and porcelain-white complexion. She had silver blond hair cut into a short bob. A large tote bag hung from her shoulder, and she was wearing impossibly impractical high-heeled peep-toe pumps. It was a miracle that she had been able to approach him as silently as she had, without falling on her face.

“I’m Keyah. Keyah Wilson.” She said with a tentative smile, extending her hand. When he cocked his brow and firmly crossed his forearms across his torso, it gave him cruel pleasure to see her smile falter as she withdrew her hand.

“How did you find me?”

“That is not important. But I am here to ask, no, beg for your help.” She tried smiling again, but couldn’t hold it under the intensity of his gaze.

“Sorry to disappoint you sweetheart, but I don’t rescue damsels in distress.”

He strode past her, stepping over the pile of beer cans, crushing the drying blades of grass under his feet as he walked toward the kitchen door.

“Look! Stop! I am willing to pay you!”

“I do pretty well for myself, thank you.” He kept on walking and sensed rather than saw her hitch that ridiculously large tote bag higher on her shoulder as she hurried after him.

“Won’t you at least hear me out?” she said, almost at the door now. He had engineered it so that he had her right where he wanted her.

“Nope!” he said with a grin and was about to slam the door shut in her face when she wedged her foot in.

“I know what you’re hiding from!” She practically yelled the words, forcing him to stop.

“What did you say?” His voice had gone menacingly soft and his face was inches away from hers, his deep blue eyes blazing fire. She paled visibly and her knuckles, where she was holding the handle of her tote bag in a death-grip, had gone white. But she stood her ground. He couldn’t help admiring her courage, even though it was pretty foolish of her.

“Look, why don’t you let me in?”

With a sigh, he opened the door. She was right. She knew too much and he needed to know how, so that he could prevent it from happening in the future.

“How did you find me?” Walking to the refrigerator, he retrieved another can of beer and popped open the lid. It wasn’t an oversight on his part when he didn’t offer her a drink or even asked her to sit down. It was besides the point that there was nowhere to sit in this messy kitchen. The center island was covered with grime. Dirty dishes were overflowing out of the sink. Trash needed to be taken out like a week back. The linoleum floor was so sticky, his shoes made a squeaking noise whenever he walked over it. The kitchen counter was piled high with empty cereal boxes, half-eaten packets of assorted, high-calorie, unhealthy snacks.

How the place looked wasn’t his fault. Well, not entirely. It had already looked like a junkie den when he had moved in here. He simply hadn’t bothered to beat it back into shape. He didn’t see the point. These were temporary quarters. Or that’s what he’d been telling himself for the past year or so.

Besides, the place looking like this might actually work in his favor. It would help him get rid of Keyah Wilson. The sooner he knew what he wanted to know, the sooner he would throw her out..

“That is not important,” she said again, not meeting his gaze.

“It is to me.”

When she remained silent, he slowly walked to where she was standing and gripped her arm, standing so near her that their toes were almost touching.

“I am going to ask you only one more time. How. Did. You. Find. Me.”

“Charlie,” she gasped out, and he was glad to note that her eyes had widened in fear. He could smell it. But beneath the fear was something else too. Arousal? Well, well, well.

“I will kill that sonofabitch!” Aaron said through clenched teeth as he let go of her arm and put some distance between them. Her scent was driving him crazy, and he did not want to hand her a weapon she could use to manipulate him. The truth was, she was already affecting him far more than he would have liked.

“No! It’s not his fault! He merely confirmed my suspicions. I had already tracked you down.” Her voice sounded breathless, but he liked it that she had quickly rushed to Charlie’s defense.

“How?”

“How what?”

“How did you track me down?”

“I will tell you everything, but please listen to what I have to say first. I believe I have a solution to both our problems. Provided you agree to do as I say.”