Zero fox given, p.3
Zero Fox Given, page 3
And yet seeing it now reminded her of what she’d nearly done in that alley behind the buffet.
She was about to attempt to get into another car with a stranger.
Zelda’s heart pounded. Victor went to the passenger side door.
“All right. Ready when you are.”
Zelda nodded. She walked around to the driver’s side, keeping her eyes on him, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible..
This time, she wasn’t going to mess up. Her pepper spray was in her purse. She had the zipper open so she could get it easily this time if he grabbed her, and she wasn’t about to be caught off guard.
Instead of pressing the button that would have unlocked the doors for her, she inserted the key into the door and unlocked it manually.
She got in.
She shut the door.
Victor still waited to be let inside. She reached over, her hand touching the passenger door, ready to open it and let him in.
Zelda pulled back instead, and Victor frowned, seeming to realize that something wasn’t quite right in Oz.
He rapped the window with his knuckles. “Hey, you gonna let me in or what?”
Zelda inserted the key into ignition. She started the car.
Victor grabbed the door handle and pulled, as though that would magically unlock the door for him.
“Zelda, let me in. Come on. No one is here to hurt you.”
She wanted to believe that, part of her did.
A big part.
But the fact that she’d nearly been taken for a spin by another guy she’d wanted to trust only hours before wasn’t jiving with her. She didn’t care if this guy was hired by her brother and her uncle. He could be literally anyone. If Harry was really missing, then who was to say this guy wasn’t a plant?
“Zelda. Open the door.”
Victor pulled something out of his pocket. Zelda’s heart launched right into her throat at the thought of a weapon, but no. She heard the jingling of keys.
She put the vehicle into drive and pulled away from him before he could unlock the door. He chased after her. She let him, at first. She wanted him to hear her when she called out to him through the glass.
“If you’re the real deal then you’ll meet me at my place.”
“Zelda!”
“I’ll leave your car back at the club!”
Zelda sped off down the street, white-knuckling the heated steering wheel as she went.
She briefly watched Victor chase after her. He kept up a pretty good speed for a while, but of course he couldn’t hold a candle to a moving vehicle.
Zelda laughed when he was far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to catch her even if she ran against a stop light.
She’d just committed grand theft auto. The intent to leave the vehicle nice and safe in a spot where Victor could pick it up later wasn’t the point. She’d still done it.
The old her never in a million years would have thought to do something as reckless as this.
Might as well keep going. There was no turning back now.
Chapter 4
There was a heavy bang on Zelda’s door not long after she returned home.
She went to the peep hole, and was kind of relieved, and nervous, to see Victor on the other side, his hands planted on his hips. The posture pushed his jacket back and exposed the gun holster.
He didn’t look remotely happy.
“If I open the door, are you going to arrest me?”
He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, as though asking for patience. “I’m not a cop.”
That didn’t stop him from putting that last guy in handcuffs, but, hey, what did she know about being a bodyguard?
Zelda kept the chain on the door as she unlocked it, which turned out to be a good thing as Victor tried to push his way inside when she opened it just the lightest amount.
The fire in his eyes was almost enough to make her step back.
Yeah, he definitely wasn’t happy with her.
“You realize I could have you arrested for that shit, right?”
Zelda leaned against the door frame. “Yeah, it occurred to me while I was driving down the road. Though I’m hoping that leaving your car nice and safe in the club parking lot made up for it.”
He actually smiled at her. Sort of. The half quirk of his lips looked as though he was more or less finding her reluctantly funny.
“Barely,” he said.
“Come on. I had to pay to park that car and everything.” She smiled innocently at him, as though this was the kind of banter they had all the time.
“Uh huh, and what were you going to do if you got home and someone was waiting for you here when you were alone? I was going to do a proper sweep of your apartment.”
“I thought of that. I put a little piece of tape on the door so I would know if someone came in when I was away.”
And when she got home and saw the tape still at the top corner of the door, untouched, she knew she was in the clear.
Victor didn’t seem all that impressed. He shook his head at her. “That’s literally the oldest trick in the book and if someone really wanted to get into your apartment, they could have done it. Even if they spotted the tape, because everyone knows that trick.”Zelda bit her lips together. She didn't want to admit she only knew that trick because she'd searched Google.
“Any assailant could have tried getting in through one of your windows. You’re only on the third floor. Any subhuman or shifter could have made it up there. Even some humans can get up here. And don’t tell me you put tape on those windows, too. It wouldn’t have mattered, and by the time you got inside to check it, would have been too late.”
That had briefly occurred to her as well when she’d crossed her living room to check the sliding glass door to her balcony, and then again when she’d gone into her bedroom to check the window there.
Her apartment wasn’t that great. It wasn’t as if she’d had a lot of money saved up for something amazing after leaving Harry anyway, but it was still hers, her territory, and she wanted to protect it.
She wanted to stay where she could be independent for the first time.
“You gonna let me in or what?”
Zelda looked at him. She thought of her options, and knew she didn’t exactly have any.
“If I wanted to hurt you, really hurt you, I could have kicked in this door by now. That little chain won’t keep anyone out who really wants to get in.”
Zelda had installed a strong chain, but she knew he was right. Short of it being as thick as her wrists, that bit of metal wouldn’t keep out any alpha or beta shifter. Most subhumans could probably break it. Hell, many humans could probably break it, too.
She closed the door, slid the chain across the lock, then opened it.
Victor stood on the other side of the threshold, his face a mask she couldn’t read, but his eyes still spoke loud and clear on how unhappy he was. He could be biting down on the inside of his cheek to keep from yelling at her right now.
“So, are you letting me get away with this because I’m a client?”
He lifted a brow at her. “Not quite.”
What was that supposed to mean?
Did it mean…maybe he was picking up on the same smells and pheromones she was as well? Was he being affected the same way she was?
Even now as he stepped into her apartment, Zelda struggled against the urge to lift her hand to her nose. Anything to keep that sweet smelling scent from making her blood warm, and her sex from responding.
Zelda crossed her arms. She was out of that tight dress she’d been wearing back at the club and in her bathrobe. She didn’t want him to see her nipples budding beneath the material.
“I was just about to have a bath, so, do what you need to do.”
Victor nodded, letting out a grunting noise of some kind.
“I won’t be a minute. For the most part, I’ll be out in my car, and if you need anything, or you see anything, you can give me a call and I’ll be right up.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a card holder. He flipped it open and set one of the cards down on the little round table that held her odds and ends beneath her calendar. “Put that number in your contacts list.”
Zelda took the card. She looked at it, then at the back of Victor’s dark head of hair. Not that she was tall enough, but from what she could make out, he wasn’t showing signs of hair loss. He was either late to that party or it wasn’t happening for him.
Nice. Very nice. Not only did he have to smell like heaven in a hand basket, but he also had to have the scruffy beard thing going that she liked, he was fit, had a full head of hair.
If he kept this up, she wasn’t going to be able to resist.
Zelda found herself following him around her apartment. He didn’t say anything about that. Maybe he thought it was normal, or his other clients tended to supervise as he did this sort of thing as well.
Really, Zelda just couldn’t get enough of that smell.
She needed it in her face at all times. That’s what it felt like at the very least. She wanted it up her nostrils for as long as possible. The longer she held onto that scent, the more she could study it.
Zelda could almost taste it on her tongue. The fact that it was making her want to be alone in that bath wasn’t helping her too much, but at the same time…didn’t he notice this? Was this only happening in Zelda’s head?
She’d been so sure the first time she saw him, the first time she’d smelled him, that it meant they were mates. Natural mates, the kind chosen by fate or nature, or whatever anyone out there wanted to call it.
She had been so sure…
But he didn’t seem to be reacting to her at all. He checked her bedroom, opened her closet, and moved her clothes hangers aside to see if there was anyone hiding behind them. He was thorough.
“So, you’re an armed bodyguard.”
“That’s what I am.”
Ignore the smell. The sweet, musky smell that made her want to put her face to his neck and inhale long and deep.
Mostly, she wanted to press her breasts to his chest and see if that would have any impact on him. She wanted to see if she could seduce him.
Of all the people she’d danced with since leaving Harry, she’d never slept with any of them. She’d wanted to; she would have if her last choice hadn’t been a kidnapping psycho.
Zelda shook off the scent of lust. “So, what are you going to do then? I mean, aside from sitting out in your car and waiting for someone to attack me?”
He looked back at her. “It’s not exactly going to happen like that.”
A thrill rushed through Zelda’s chest. “So, you’re going to stay here?”
She could make up the couch for him, then maybe pretend to forget he was there, walk out of her room in her slinky little nighty. The brand new one she’d bought after running to freedom.
She’d never worn it for Harry. She could grab a snack in it. He would wake up from the noise and see her there. He might even find her attractive. That little nighty did show off her long legs…
“I won’t be sleeping here. You won’t be seeing me when I sleep. When I need to, I’ll go home.”
Home?
“What do you mean? You’re not going to be watching over me?”
She hadn’t been all that excited over the idea of having someone tailing her when she was supposed to be having fun for the first time in her life. However, now that she was faced with the idea of not having someone around who would protect her when…if she was attacked again…
He smiled at her. “My partner will be watching over you when I’m not available to. Steve. He’s a good guy. Don’t steal his car and you’ll get along just fine.”
Zelda smiled. Now that it was done and over with, she couldn’t believe she’d actually done it. “I really did steal your car, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did.”
“And it doesn’t hold any water with you that, at least when you were out of sight, I kept to the speed limit and made sure the car was dropped off nice and safe?”
Victor looked as though he wanted to be angry with her, but then he couldn’t help but smile, and then laugh. He had such a nice smile, and a good laugh. God, why did she have to be reacting this way to him? Why couldn’t he at least look at her as though she was having the same effect on him? At least then she could know whether this was real or not.
“Unfortunately, no. There’s nothing in the law books that lets you off the hook for that. You’re lucky you’re cute.”
Cute. He said she was cute. Not sexy. Or gorgeous. But cute.
For now, she’d take it.
“Okay. So, aside from you and your friend switching off to watch over me, what else is going to happen?”
Victor was clearly amused by the questions. Maybe it was because of how cute he thought she was.
“I’ll be doing a search of your car after this. If you’ve got any plans or responsibilities, run them by me and I’ll plan your routes, assess threats, that kind of thing.”
“Uh huh, and are you going to look sexy doing all that as you do right now?”
Victor’s brows raised. He turned away from her quickly.
Was that a blush on his face? She’d definitely embarrassed him. She couldn’t believe she’d said it.
“I’ll try not to distract you,” Victor said. It was the only thing he said, then he got back to business. “I was able to look into you a little before I found you. You don’t seem to be working right now, but I want to make sure. You got a job? Or anything under the table?”
This was something that Zelda bit her lips together about.
“I’ve got some money.”
“No work?”
“I’m a fox shifter from a small pack and was married off to a wolf to join territories. If I was to get a job, it would be waiting tables.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.”
She couldn’t help but think there was. She was in front of a guy who had a career in saving and protecting people.
She didn’t have more than a high school education. Everyone knew college wouldn’t be in her future. Not when she was going to be married off to whoever happened to make the best deal with her alpha.
And her, stupid girl she was, had been fairly content with the idea. She’d been happy to get her high school diploma, and then stick around the pack learning how to cook and sew and garden, learning how to be a good mother, basically.
She didn’t want to knock those skills either, but it had been a comfortable life, waiting for her alpha to come to her and say someone had been chosen. The only thing that bothered her about the whole set up was that she didn't get a say in who she was married off to.
She should have asked questions. She should have pushed for college. She should have learned how to run her own business.
She liked gardening and flowers. Maybe if she’d gone to school, she could have her own store right now.
Maybe.
But she didn’t. Now she was here.
“I just don’t have a job right now.”
“Okay, so then you’re spending your savings.” He looked at her patiently, as though waiting for her to admit to something.
He knew. She could tell right then and there that he knew.
“I took some money with me when I left.” Her hackles might have been a bit raised up when she said that.
“I’m not accusing you of anything.”
“Link told me there were people in Maxwell’s pack who were accusing me of theft.”
“If it was your husband’s money, then as his wife, you’re entitled to half of it anyway. If you found some cash beneath the mattress or in his wallet then it doesn’t matter to me if you took it.”
“I’m his ex wife. I don’t care what the papers say right now. He’s a fucking killer and there’s no way in hell I’d ever go back to him.”
“I agree with you. Your uncle and brother told me what happened.”
“Great, and what did the rest of the pack say? Did you talk to them?”
“Steve and I both did, yes.”
“And?”
He smiled at her. “Cooperate with me a little on this and you might find out.”
Zelda thought about this a little while longer. “Do bodyguards normally go around asking questions like this? I mean, you’re not investigating anything.”
“I did have to investigate where you would be. Steve and I do a range of things. Mostly, he’s the investigator, and I’m the muscle.”
She thought about that. “Are you really a bodyguard?”
“When I’m hired to be, I am.”
Something still wasn’t settling right in her gut with this. She shouldn’t have hung up on her brother. She should have demanded to know everything that was going on here.
“Well, tomorrow night, I’ll be going out again.”
“I would advise against that.”
Zelda smiled, shrugged, and went to the fridge. It was always best to have a bottle of cool water with a hot bath. “I’m still going out.”
He followed her, keeping at a short distance. “It would be better if you didn’t. If I can keep a better eye on you without too many variables, it makes my job a lot easier.”
“Well, I will do my best to take that into consideration.”
She stopped herself before she could get any farther, an idea suddenly hitting her. A way for her to test if this was just hormones, or if she really was picking up on a mating scent.
Victor didn’t look too pleased about her answer either, so she was happy to continue with this.
“Actually, I was thinking about staying home tomorrow night, on one condition.”
“Great, let’s hear it.”
He was still trying to be professional with her. She liked that. It made a strange new thrill rise up inside her. As though this was a challenge for her to overcome.
“Kiss me. Right now, like you really mean it. And I’ll stay in tomorrow night.”
Chapter 5
“No.”
Zelda blinked. The seductive air she tried to put on whooshed out of her like a leaking balloon.
“Well, you could have pretended to think about it for a little before saying no.”
