Mated (3 page)

She watched him eat, her appetite gone. "Hope you at least roasted some hot dogs.  Hate to waste a good fire."

"You owe me an explanation."

The statement hung in the air.  She did, but how to admit what happened.

"I do.  But you won't like the truth."

His cell phone rang.  Raythe looked toward the bedroom.  "Don't move." With a warning glare, he stalked to his room.

Madison slipped out the back door and took off through the woods, the shortest distance to the closest road.

An hour later, out of breath and sure she'd made enough detours to evade Raythe if he followed, Madison ducked into a laundromat.  She spotted a crumpled box of detergent in the trash, dug it out and tore open the found a small amount of powdered soap.  She then rubbed it on her clothes and under her shoes.

A woman with curlers in her hair and a crying toddler watched with interest.  "Girl, you need to just take a bath or something.  That shit will only work for so long."

"True," Madison replied and exited. She slid into an alleyway and leaned against the wall pondering where to go next.

The sea salt air of the nearby ocean would help hide her scent.  But she needed to find a place to stay for a couple nights. 

Earlier, while eating breakfast, she'd seen changes in Raythe, and realized he would not allow her to stay, no matter her explanation.  He'd already sent a call to the pack and the return call was to tell him to hold her there.

Her mind raced through all the different places she could hide.  To her left across the street, the answer became clear.

Flash of Brilliance
was anything but that when she entered.  Inside the dim interior it was hard to tell if it was day or night. It smelled of stale cigarette smoke and body odor.  The floor was carpeted, but most would find it impossible to guess the color or if there was a design of any sort.  Madison noted that the tables and chairs were of good quality.  One wouldn't want a patron to bust his ass during a lap dance, she supposed.

She hesitated next to an ATM machine inside the entrance next to a condom and cologne dispenser, lined up like gaudy soldiers.  If someone was buying from the first, the second one was a waste of a good buck.

The stage area was large, and although techno music boomed, no one danced under the strobe lights, which flashed across it.  There were poles on the two outer corners, one in the middle on an elevated platform and two more along each edge.  As if it added some sort of class, a velvet lounger was positioned dead center of all the poles.  Now that was one surface she would not be planting her naked butt on, ever.

The only person in the room was a young guy behind the bar.  Tall and lanky with seasoned eyes, he accessed her from head to toe.  She must have passed some sort of test because he put a glass on the counter and began to mix a drink and then filled it.  "Sit down.  I'll get Joe."

"How do you know I want to talk to this Joe guy?" she asked sipping from the rum and coke he must have decided she needed.

"You got that look.  Need a job."  He spoke at her breasts more than at her, but she was okay with that.  Her tight t-shirt didn't leave much to the imagination, being she was braless, and hopefully, he'd not memorize her face.

"Are there any rooms in here where I could crash? If I need a place to sleep."

He motioned to the stairway to the left side of the bar.  "You can crash upstairs if Joe hires you, but you'll have to put out if a big client comes in."

Madison weighed her options and figured she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.  It was Friday. The boat would arrive Monday.  Three days.  That's all she needed.  What exactly constituted a "big client"?

"How often do those types come in?"

The bartender shrugged.  "Couple times a month."

Once again she considered a motel, but knew that most of the places in town were regularly patrolled by the pack.  "Fine, yeah, I'll talk to Joe. But I'm not fucking for a room."

"Don't matter either way to me," the bartender replied. "I'm just here to earn money while in college."

"No perks, huh?"

He smiled and once again stared at her chest.  "Some."

Joe was a short stocky man with a white beard and rosy cheeks.  He reminded her of Santa Claus until looking into his squinty calculating eyes.  "So you wanna dance?" He told her without preamble, not even bothering to ask her name.

"Go up there and change then give me and Mark a peek at what you got.  If you're good you start tonight.  The girls won't be happy about a new one, but my clients have been asking for something fresh."

In minutes she walked out wearing a neon orange thong that had been in a package and a thick matching band wrapped around her tits.  She wore tall knee-high boots and pulled her hair into a ponytail on top of her head. 

The pole was cold at first, but after warming up with two full rotations and gyrating her hips, she wished it were made of ice.  She hung upside down suspended by her thigh and shook her tits while turning slowly.  Then in tempo to the music she humped the floor ensuring to dip her back so her ass popped higher than her spine.

Once she swirled on the floor, she lifted her legs and scissored them back and forth while sitting back on her butt.  She danced along the edge of the stage swaying to the beat and then stalked to the owner.  "Well?"

His mouth was slack.  "Shit, yeah.  You're hired.  You'll be the main attraction tonight."

"No, I don't want to be a main show tonight, or any night this week.  I'll stay in the background.  I prefer not to start on a bad note with the girls until they get used to me," she lied.  The less attention she got the better.  She wasn't going to dance that well come opening time.

"Yeah, okay, I get ya." Joe leered more than smiled and pointed to the stairwell.  "Mark says you need a place to crash.  You can stay, but only a couple nights.  That room is for other things."

"So I was told."

"And you're not interested?  Could make good money with those moves." Joe almost drooled waiting for her response.

"Not interested."

Chapter Four

Raythe knew he shouldn't have let her out of his sight for an instant.  Madison was too stealthy for him to catch up with once she got a good head start.  He'd gone up and down every street never catching her scent.  If he thought he did within a few feet it was gone. 

Madison knew how to disappear. Not sure she'd avoid the council for long, but then again the threat of death was a great motivator.

It was a stupid move to come back.  Raythe closed his eyes at the image of her sucking him off.  No matter what she said, something must have driven her to return.  Had she left something in the house that she needed in order to escape?

She'd said it was to check on him, make sure he was well.  That made no sense.  After the stunt she'd pulled months ago, he couldn't believe anything she said. The woman he fucked the night before, although she'd been as beautiful as ever, was not the same one he'd fallen in love with.

Something about her had changed.  Her body was just as curvy, every inch like he remembered.  He'd not been with her in so long he'd taken her five times. Probably because in the back of his mind, he expected she'd leave again.

Darkness was falling and he met up with Isen who leaned against the back of the club building.  "You all right?" Although his friend kept his expression neutral, Raythe knew the male enough to sense concern behind the façade.

"Yeah.  I should have called you right away. I'm an idiot"

Isen shook his head.  "Nah, man.  You did what was normal.  You loved that woman.  May still.  You couldn't turn her in."

"Would you?" Raythe had to ask because he felt like a wuss for allowing her to get to him.

"Not sure." Isen's answer surprised him.  "Look, all I'm saying is that if she killed Damiel, it was for a strong reason.  I wonder why she won't explain herself.  Why she ran.  But at the same time something is strange about the whole thing." Isen shook his head.  "Have you figured out why she came back?”

"She said to see me. Yeah, right."

Isen's lips curved.  "Could be. I remember the way she always tracked you with her eyes.  That woman was way into you."

Raythe huffed and kicked a rock. "If anyone should have known her, it was me.  I was gone for a month to do that job in Canada.  Everything was great before I left.  We were good.  Shit, we used to spend almost every minute free together.  If she was fucking around I can't imagine how and when." Raythe repeated the same story he'd run in his head so many times.  "Then I come home to find her gone.  Took clothes, some money from our account and left a note.

"
I'm sorry.  I had to go with him
, was all it said. She didn't even take all her shit.  Left everything behind to go with Damiel."

Isen looked to him and shrugged.  "How about last night. Did she say anything that would explain her motives?"

"Just that she came to check on me and that she needed three days to disappear for good."

"For good?"  Isen's eyes rounded.  "You don't think she'll do something stupid do you?"

He'd already thought about that.

"No. It was like she was waiting for someone to come get her."

They both stopped talking and listened to footsteps nearing. 

Taden's dark figure came into view.  The artic wolf snorted and took out a cigar.  "What the hell is this Mary Kay party all about?"

Isen chuckled.  "What the hell is a Mary Kay?"

"Make-up," Taden replied with a shrug. "Some chick I banged for a few days, that's all she talked about."

"During, before, or after?" Isen asked pointing at Taden's groin and laughing.  "Cause when I bang someone they don't talk about make-up."

Taden gave him a bored look and then slid a glance at Raythe.  "What's up?  You took a day off and then just now showing up.  Need to talk?"

"Nah. I'm tight." Raythe neared the leader of the pack.  "I need another day though."

"Right.  And this has nothing to do with Madison right?"

"Nope."

"That's what I thought," Taden replied and gripped Raythe's shoulder.  "If you find her, you have to bring her in. I know it's personal.  I give you my word she won't come to harm if she proves a good reason for killing Damiel.  I know he was a bastard, but that's not enough grounds to kill him."  He glared at Isen.  "If being a shithead was grounds to kill, then Isen would have died a long time ago."

"Oh, the sweet things you say." Isen grinned and walked to the front of the club with both hands up, flipping them the bird.

An hour later, Raythe walked through his back porch door. His bedroom loomed empty, her scent remained on his bedding. Made him want to plan another bonfire. 

Another frustrating day of hunting for Madison without any results. She'd be gone for good in two.  Raythe sat on the bed and looked at the condom wrapper that remained on the nightstand.  He wondered how long she'd been on the run and how many preventive measures she'd been forced to take. 

While at his house, she washed her clothes as soon as she'd arrived. To remove any scents of where she'd been?  Other than a messenger bag, Madison did not carry anything. For a woman who adored shoes and purses, that was a hint at how much she'd changed.

He looked into his laundry room and stalked to the doorway.

"Hot damn." He knew where she was.  He'd lost her scent outside the Wash N Spin, across from a strip club. 

Madison was an amazing dancer.

Raythe sat in the back of Flash of Brilliance, in a corner where he could lean to the side and be blocked by a column.  He slicked his hair back into a ponytail and wore colored contacts so he'd not have to wear the usual sunglasses, which Madison could notice. 

He wore dark clothes and one of the girls was ensconced on his lap, giving an exaggerated wiggle that made him raise both eyebrows.  If she kept it up, she'd be in traction by morning.

The gyrating woman served as a decoy since Madison knew he hated women sitting on his lap.  It reminded him of something kids should do, not adults.  Sitting on laps was not for grownups in his opinion.

Of course if the woman and he were naked.  She could straddle him. That was different.

The music was loud techno, the lights flashed in tempo and three women gyrated on the stage wearing very little, one only a thong, her breasts exposed after a dramatic tug and throw.

A bit behind the first two another woman was eye-catching with a small waist and perfectly round hips that tapered to long well-formed legs. The other two women were too skinny for his taste. 

Raythe stuffed twenty dollars in his lap dancer’s bra top and lifted her off.  He looked closer at the stage. The curvy one wore a purple wig, a shiny purple top that barely contained her breasts.  She wore a thong with fringe on the front, tall fuck-me heels and a mask. 

His gaze fell to her mouth. He recognized the pouty lips at once.  Madison attempted to remain in the background as if not wanting to get attention, but it didn’t work. The men kept motioning for her to move to the front.  Finally she was tugged by a lanky guy to the edge of the stage and began to dance around a pole wrapping her long shapely legs around it and swirling slowly while pushing her round ass out.

Her hand on the pole, she swung her hips to the music and leaned forward her breasts commanding attention and the men threw handfuls of dollars at her. One over excited man reached for her ankle and she stumbled, but didn’t fall.

Raythe pushed away the woman who’d reclaimed his lap and got to his feet, a growl escaping. He caught himself just as he was about to rush the stage and grab her.  Instead he walked to the lanky guy who remained near the stage watching the show.  "How much to get a private dance with the purple beauty?"

The guy pointed to a man sitting at the bar.  "He's the owner, gotta check with him."

Raythe approached the man who accessed him from head to foot.  "I want a private show.  The one in purple."

The fat man shook his head.  "She won't do it.  I've had several offers, she refused them all.  Good thing she's a great dancer or I'd throw her out."

"Two grand." He took out his Black American Express.

Before he fully extended his arm, the card disappeared from his grasp. The man rushed behind the bar and swiped the card, then handed him the slip to sign.  "Upstairs. The first room on the right."

So much for respecting a woman's wishes.  Raythe gritted his teeth wanting nothing more than to punch the bastards face in. "Got it."

Raythe
. Madison knew he was there before walking into the room.  He must have paid a lot of money to be allowed upstairs.  She looked behind her undecided to make a run for it or face him.  If he was there, it meant he was furious with her.  Not just for running but for dancing too.  A wolf's woman did not expose herself to other men.  Unless it was an arrangement between them and in the privacy of their home, most wolves' partners never slept with another man once mated.  Of course she was different, Raythe and she never became mates.

She slipped into a room across the hallway from where she'd been sleeping.  Grabbing clothes without being able to see in the dimness, she pulled a loose sweater over her head and then leggings.  Unable to find flat shoes, she found a pair of lower heels and slipped her feet into them.

Her damn messenger bag with money was in the other room.  In a couple hours she'd come back for it.   With a last longing look to the doorway, Madison slid out the window, and leaped to the roof of a side porch.  Then crab crawling to the side, she hung onto the edge and jumped to the ground.

In the morning she'd meet her contact and be gone forever.

Madison ran for several blocks before her calves cramped and forced her to slow down.  She looked two ways and then ran across the street to the beach.  Once there she kicked off the shoes and went to the water's edge to erase any scent.  Hopefully with the borrowed clothing, her scent would be confusing to Raythe.