Taken By The Pack (Werewolf's Harem Book 2) (3 page)

“Do you need anything else before I go?” Lucas asked as they walked back to the house, naked and barefoot.

“I can honestly say that I’m perfectly content. Spoiled beyond reason, actually,” Aurelia admitted, squeezing his hand.

“Tell me one more time that you’re okay with my plan. The harem, I mean,” Lucas said, looking over at her.

“I’m okay with it. I think we both know how well suited we are for one another, and that no one can detract from that. I like the idea of having the house full of shifters, and having women around will be nice. As long as I’m number one in your heart, I’m open to anything,” Aurelia said.

Lucas nodded, seeming pleased. They walked the rest of the way back in comfortable silence, admiring the beauty of the forest and the beautiful weather.

When they got back to the house, the living areas were deserted. Aurelia was more than a little glad that Ben had headed elsewhere, since she and Lucas had lost their clothes when they’d shifted in the woods. Lucas walked her upstairs to their suite, stopping at her door like a proper date.

“See you soon. Just three days, okay?” he reminded her.

“I’ll be fine. I have years of bad tv to catch up on, and new programming languages to scope out, and I think I might even do some baking,” Aurelia said, grinning.

With a laugh and a kiss, Lucas left her at her door and headed down the hall to his own suite, disappearing inside. Aurelia did feel a pinch of sadness when she heard the helicopter fire up a little later, but she comforted herself with her plans to stay busy and the fact that it was only a few days. She would barely have time to bake cupcakes, much less get into mischief… right?

Aurelia rose with the sun on Thursday morning. Crawling out of her plush bed, she padded to the mammoth floor-to-ceiling picture window that adorned her private bedroom. Her window looked out to a veritable wall of towering pine trees, and Aurelia watched with deep satisfaction as the first few rays of morning pushed soft fingers of light toward the house.

Stretching, she ran her hands up and down her bare ribs and hips. She still ached all over, a pleasant reminder that she had pushed herself into countless hours of hikes and runs over the last two days. Since Lucas was gone, the Compound was all but abandoned and she’d had little more on her mind than vigorous exercise followed by a lavish, home-cooked meal. She’d talked to her brother again, laughed at the bad puns that he’d never outgrown.

Coupled with lots of sleep and steamy baths, Aurelia’s time had flown by. If she were honest, she hadn’t even had time to miss Lucas until this very moment. While waking in her opulent bedroom, in a bed fit for a princess, was certainly an incredible and much-missed feeling… well, she was still waking alone in that big bed.
 

As for why she was only now starting to feel lonely despite several years on the lam, rarely if ever seeing hacker acquaintances and never seeing family or friends, Aurelia could only guess that she’d been too busy worrying about looking over her shoulder to be worried about her feelings. Loneliness went right out the window along with cable t.v., wheat grass shots, and fancy haircuts. There simply wasn’t time, or opportunity.

Aurelia shook her head at herself, turning from the window and heading over to her desk. After checking a few of her anonymous email drop boxes and several intricately-hidden bank accounts, she decided that she needed to turn the big, empty house from a sadness stimuli to a special treat.
 

She had a huge house to herself, and she could do anything she wanted. What she wanted most, right this second, was to bake some vanilla cupcakes and eat several while sprawled on one of the couches downstairs, catching up on Real Housewives of Atlanta. To top off her self-indulgence, she wasn’t planning on wearing pants at any point in this fantasy day.

Giggling to herself, Aurelia put on some cute white boy-short panties, pulled a long black tank top on, and threw her fiery mane up in a messy bun. Ready for action, she grabbed her new iPhone and headed downstairs.
 

Checking her texts to see if Lucas had been in contact, she wandered into the Compound’s kitchen. She tried not to pout when she saw that he hadn’t messaged her since the morning before; she hadn’t messaged him either, so it wasn’t like she should be expecting a response.

Putting her phone to the side, she looked around the kitchen. It was a big granite and stainless steel affair, everything custom-built. The floor plan was big and open, the room defined by big copper bar that fenced in the kitchen on two sides and provided seating for casual meals. Wireless speakers were built into the bar, and Aurelia synched her phone to the speakers and pumped up her favorite bad pop jams. Katy Perry seemed appropriate for her mood, a little naughty and a little sweet.

Having learned the ins and outs of the kitchen over the last two days, Aurelia made quick work of the cupcake process. She’d perfected her vanilla cupcake recipe years earlier during a frenzy of early-20’s-hipster-hobby baking and now the whole shebang was something she could do on complete autopilot. She hummed as she worked, her mind a big zen blank as she went. When the frosting was resting and the cupcakes were sunning themselves in the oven, she turned her thoughts to television.

Should she start with something brainless but amazing, like RuPaul’s Drag Race? Or perhaps a program with more substance, like Mad Men? She’d only seen the first season so far, but she knew that it was critically acclaimed and would be soul-satisfying. She danced while she worked and thought, rocking out to her tunes. Who didn’t love dancing in their underwear?

She dithered as she pulled the cupcakes out to cool, finally deciding on Dr. Who as a reasonable in-between. Cheesy, but with a good story line. Cute Doctor, exciting adventures, weird aliens… yeah, it hit all the high notes.
 

Checking her phone one more time, she repressed a big sigh. When the cupcakes were frosted, she put two on a plate and poured herself a huge glass of milk. Satisfied, she turned off the music and grabbed her snack. Heading around the counter, she made a beeline for the living room.

…where she nearly dropped the milk and cupcakes. A big, dark-clad form was sprawled out over one of the living room’s overstuffed lounges. Aurelia stopped dead in her tracks, startled beyond reason. The mass of wavy onyx hair, lanky frame, and red Converse kicked onto the floor near the couch made it obvious that Ben was, in fact, in residence. Lucas had said Ben would be here if she needed anything, but since Aurelia hadn’t seen him she’d just sort of… forgotten.

Here she was, in her underwear, dancing around and making a fool of herself mere feet from a wolf she barely knew. A very attractive wolf, too. She wanted to shift into her wolf and run away into the woods, embarrassed.
 

Ben was spread out facing the other direction, absorbed in the glowing screen of his laptop. He had headphones on, preventing him from hearing her approach. Biting her lip, Aurelia pivoted and started to sneak toward the stairs.

“Hey!” came Ben’s voice, making her jump.

Busted.

Turning, Aurelia put on an awkward grin as she faced him. He’d rolled over to face her.

“Heyyyyyy…” she said, acutely aware of just how red her face was growing.

“Coming to lounge?” Ben asked, waving a hand at the small sea of matching couches and ottomans in the living area. Aurelia immediately noticed his hands. Long, slender fingers and prominent veins on his hands and wrists. She was a total sucker for sexy forearms, the kind you only found on slimmer guys like Ben.

“I, uh, didn’t want to disturb you. You look busy,” Aurelia said, her words rushed. She jerked her eyes up from his hands, only to encounter his sculpted cheekbones, and soulful ocean-colored eyes hidden behind his trendy black-and-clear glasses.
 

She was ogling him. Damn, apparently it was possible for her to blush more!

“You’re not disturbing me,” he said, arching a brow at her awkward examination of his person. He gave her scanty outfit a brief glance, but thankfully didn’t comment on it.

“Oh, you know, it’s okay. I wanted to watch some bad TV so I’ll just go upstairs,” she said.
 

“No, come on,” he insisted. “I need a break, anyway. I’ve been working since almost three a.m.”

“Uh, alright,” Aurelia said, cursing her lack of wit. She picked the couch next to him and sank down, setting her snack down on a table.

“So, bad TV huh?” he asked.
 

Aurelia gave him a small smile, appreciating his attempt to make things less awkward with a little conversation.

“Yeah. I was hoping that Bravo is running some awesome reality marathon today,” she admitted with a shrug.

Ben nodded, closing his laptop and sitting up. Aurelia noticed that he wore simple black jeans and a snug black tee that read “The Magnetic Fields”. A band that she liked, to boot!

“…can actually just change the channels from my phone,” he was explaining, waving his phone at the colossal TV. The machine flared to life, and soon Ben had Bravo on the screen.

“Hey,
Millionaire Matchmaker
is on,” he said, giving her a grin.

“You know what this show is?” Aurelia asked, trying not to gape.

“Sure. I like bad TV as much as anyone,” he shrugged. “I have to do something while my code’s compiling.”

“Right,” Aurelia said. When it came to wolves, males were usually 90% overblown masculine swagger. They were all about power and dominance and keeping up their barriers. She’d never met a male who would so easily admit to this kind of silly vice.

Silence stretched between them, and Aurelia realized that she should make more of an effort. Ben was nice, and cute, and it wouldn’t hurt to have an ally in the house besides Lucas.

“Do you want a cupcake?” she asked, offering him the plate. “I just made them.”

Ben’s face lit up immediately. With his longish hair and baby blue eyes, his excitement made him seem younger than Aurelia knew he must be. Her wolf sensed that he was in his early thirties, but just now he could have passed for late teens. It was kind of heart melting.

“Oh man, yeah. I’ve been smelling them for an hour, salivating. I didn’t want to impose,” he said.
 

“Wait, you knew I was down here?” she squeaked.

“Well, yeah. You were rocking out, and dancing around, and making delicious-smelling food. I’d be a shitty wolf if I missed all that somehow,” he said, grinning.

“Damn,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I was really hoping you’d at least missed my dancing.”

“We don’t get a lot of hot women running around in their panties here. Makes for a great place to work without distractions, but it’s not very lively. I’m glad you’re here,” he said, the teasing bleeding from his eyes at the last.

“It is kind of big and lonely and echo-ey here, isn’t it?” Aurelia asked, taking the other cupcake and peeling away the paper wrapper.

Ben nodded, mouth full of cake. They ate in silence for a minute, eyes drawn to the TV screen. The silence was easier now, though. More comfortable.

“So what are you working on?” Aurelia asked, her eyes catching on his laptop.

“Ehn… I’m starting a new software project. Web intelligence, sort of. I don’t know, it probably sounds boring.” Ben scratched his ear, uncomfortable.

“What kind of web intelligence? Like source collection, or data analysis?” Aurelia asked, her curiosity immediately piqued.

Ben blinked, surprised.

“Uh, both,” he said, shaking his head. “I want to develop a system that’s a one-stop shop. Something to generate mass surveillance data, but with a feature that completely anonymizes the sources. We could feasibly get the NSA to stop tapping everyone’s information flow if we had a better way for them to do their job.”

“Not to mention the profit you could see from that kind of citizen-friendly program,” Aurelia said, impressed.

“Yeah,” Ben said, giving her another look. “Yeah, exactly. Lucas thinks it could have a lot of potential.”

“Well, yeah, it’s a great idea. How are you mining data, though?”

“Every possible avenue. Web crawlers, mainly. Websites, social media pages, anything we can access. We’re running trillions of results a day through the system I’ve set up, basically pattern mining the results to look for anomalies. Behavior changes, the system takes note. When certain patterns are met, the system accrues a list of suspicions. We set the parameters and just let it work for us.”

“What makes it different than the current system, then?” Aurelia asked, challenging him. She liked the gleam in his eye when he talked about his work. It was definitely a good look for him, she decided.

“We’re stripping the identifying markers from the data as it comes into our system. We’re impartial, because the data is impartial,” he said, leaning back and propping his head on his hand. The dense muscle of his biceps bulged, distracting Aurelia again.

“Uh…” she said, pulling her thoughts back on track, “How far along are you in this project, exactly?”

“I’ve actually made a small-scale system model. That’s what I’ve been working on for the last month. It’s basically done now, it just needs to run a ton of data so that I can check the filters and refine the parameter system. I’ve been watching it all night,” he finished sheepishly.

“I think… I think this is the project that Lucas brought me in to work on,” Aurelia said, excited.

“Wait, you’re an analyst?” Ben said, sounding unsure.
 

“You’re offending me a little with your continued surprise,” Aurelia said, giving him a hard look.

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just, you know…” he trailed off.

“No, I don’t think I do. It’s just what?” she asked, her eyes narrowing further.

“Look at you. Females like you don’t usually hide behind a computer screen,” he said.

“Females like me,” she repeated. “What the fuck does that mean, Ben?”

She started to rise from the couch, intending to leave the room and its occupant behind.

Warmth caressed her elbow, and then Ben’s big hand locked around her wrist. Aurelia halted with a shiver. He stood, coming to his full height at her back. The fine hairs on her neck and arms raised, although she wasn’t sure if it was fear or excitement.