Page 19 of The Piece You Stole

My head lowers. Not to take in my rapidly cooling—and untouched meal—but to the plastic fork sitting beside it. There’s no steak knife or real fork for me. Not after what happened the last time Felix took his turn with me and wasn’t as careful as he should have been.

“I’m curious about the doctor,” Nathan says in such a neutral tone that instantly makes me wary.

I shift my focus from my plastic fork to Nathan. Just like always, I can’t read him, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know something is coming. Something bad.

Behind Rylan’s closed office door, his voice rises. Not to the level of a shout because that’s not how he exerts his control over people, but he’s pissed. Seriously pissed. Some funds aren’t performing as well as they should, though how that’s the fault of his investment banker, and not the stock market, is a mystery to me.

Nathan, finished with his meal, sits back in his seat, glass in hand, eyes locked on me the way a caged lion will stare at visitors to a zoo.

“What did you say?” I ask, as if I don’t remember. I do.

“The doctor has me curious. The rest of the pack predicted you’d try to kill yourself. For obvious reasons.” He darts a darkly amused glance at the deep scar on my left wrist.

I wrap my left arm around my belly, hiding the scar from him. It’s automatic. I don’t think, I just do. I’m not even sure why anymore.

Shame? Guilt for wanting to throw my life away when other people fight to keep theirs?

I don’t know. Maybe one day I’ll figure it out.IfI survive my week with Nathan.

He smiles as if I’ve done something he knew I would. “Some assumed you’d run for the nearest bus station. Rylan guessed you’d run home to Daddy.”

Because I need to be doing something other than sitting, I pick up my plastic fork with my right hand and stab a piece of medium-rare steak.

It’s perfectly cooked, as is the asparagus dusted with parmesan and lemon, the citrus scent teasing my nose and making my stomach rumble enough to remind me it’s been too long since I’ve eaten. But right now, this meal is as appealing as eating out of a toilet. “What did you guess?”

So, this was the game Nathan won me as first prize.

“You’d find some poor sap to rescue you.” He cocks his dark head. “I hadn’t thought it would be a doctor.”

“When did you know I’d survived the car crash?” I ask, my hands tightening around the plastic fork as I curl my toes in my five-inch Christian Louboutin's.

A dark smile curves his lips. “Didn’t you feel me press a kiss on your lips in the hospital?”

I go cold and then hot again.

“You see,” Nathan continues, “Rylan had a sneaking suspicion you might be planning something. You seemed just a little too eager to go with Felix.”

My freedom wasn’t real. I was still in a cage, and I didn’t know it. “You were following.” It’s a battle to keep my voice steady. Even harder to stop my hand from shaking. I return my plastic fork to my plate and tuck my hands under the table.

He whistles low as if I’ve impressed him. “No hesitation. Not a single second of doubt. You must have been planning it for some time to go through it that fast, huh?”

I grip my hands into fists under the table, hoping that even though it's glass, Nathan can’t see the source of my tension. “How close were you?”

His smile widens, making his top thin lip disappear completely. “I’m surprised you didn’t feel me watching. Just a car behind, sweetheart. Just a car behind.”

I force a slow breath out. “But you didn’t stop me. I could have died in…” my voice trails off at his snort of amusement.

“The girl who survives more bites than she should?” He tuts. “Rylan already had doubts you were fully human. No, you’re too much of a survivor for a simple car crash to be the thing that ended you.”

“But if it had…?” I prompt, twisting my lips into a smile as false as his.

“Why did you think I was so close?”

I stare at him, incredulous. “You would have dived into the river tosaveme?Me?”

His smile falls away, and a cold mask snaps into place. The perfect hunter right, front, and center. “I serve my alpha.”

I raise my eyebrow. “And that’s why you demanded me as your prize? Because you’re loyal to your alpha?” Now it’s my turn to snort in amusement. “Because if you were, you might have thought about telling him, ‘no prize necessary, but thanks, Alpha,’” I say, affecting his slow drawl.

---