Page 65 of My Stepbrother's Plaything

“Silence!” Luke roared and everyone in the room shivered in fear. It was rare that the alpha got angry, and Donna would be lying if she said that she wasn’t afraid of the power in Luke’s voice. “She is my mate! I will make things right and I’ll do my very best to keep her from exposing the truth. Just in case I fail and I’m too late, be on the guard. I know humans will come for me because there’s no telling what story she’ll tell. None of you get anywhere near Catherine until I make things right,” Luke looked around the room and his golden eyes landed on Donna’s golden eyes. “Especially you.”

“Humph, you don’t have to worry about me, boss.” Donna turned around and transformed back into a human. Her exposed back was to the front of the room as she stood in the nude without a care in the world. “If that’s all, I’ll take my leave.” Donna knew that she was breaking so many rules and that she was being disrespectful, but she couldn’t help it. Lions and lionesses were possessive and she’d be damned if she allowed a human to take Luke from her.

Donna located her clothes and slowly pulled them back on. She reached into her pocket and dialed the number of a shapeshifter that owed her a favor or two. The phone only rung twice before it was answered by a slightly surprised voice.

“Donna? This is a surprise.” The voice said. Donna skipped over the pleasantries and told the man exactly what was on her mind.

“There’s a human news reporter by the name of Catherine Ziles…. Get rid of her for me.”

Chapter Ten

For the next two days, Catie compiled all types of stories together from the past and the present about shapeshifters to get humans thinking about their futures. Catie wasn’t able to get too much recent stuff, but Catie knew if she reported on several deadly events that involved shapeshifters, she’d definitely gain a following. After much though, Catie decided to report on shapeshifters in front of the home where she lived with her mom, and little sister. The home that Abbey was murdered in.

“There,” Catie said and printed out what she had wrote up. She hated that her stories aren’t from recent events, but the fact that she’d be speaking from experience should be adequate enough. She’d also add Alexa’s account and she might even throw in what happened between Luke and her, but she wouldn’t say that it was her though, at least not the Luke situation. “Luke…” Catie murmured and looked at her phone. Just a few short days ago Catie was agonizing about the fact that the incredibly sexy Lucas Curtis wasn’t calling her. Catie kept thinking about how good it felt when he was inside of her. Catie couldn’t get it out of her mind that she was falling fast for him. Now when she thought about Luke, all she felt was disgust.

Catie reproof read her story and faxed it over to Tiffany for further editing before giving it to the teleprompter technician.

“Luke was using me all of this time,” Catie spat out in anger. She couldn’t believe that she didn’t listen to her gut feeling. Her every being was screaming that something was wrong with Luke, but her hormones kept telling her it was all in her head. Catie sighed. Catie wanted to hate Luke with all of her being, and even though she disliked him at the moment, she couldn’t bring herself to completely hate the man. Catie kept thinking about the chemistry the two of them had.

Catie closed her eyes then and she could almost smell the scent of Luke’s cologne. He’s called her several times a day since he told Catie his secret, and Catie didn’t answer the phone once. Catie could still see the hurt look in Luke’s eyes and she couldn’t help but to feel regretful for the way that she treated him.

“Stop thinking like that, Catherine,” Catie said to herself and shook her head. “It’s Luke’s fault for lying.” No matter what Catie did, she could not stop thinking of the man. Even though she wanted to expose him for the monster that he was, she also wanted to see him to hear what Luke had to say. “No… it’s better that I found out about this now versus if we had already gotten together,” Catie needed some fresh air, the longer that she stayed in her office, the more she thought unpleasant thoughts. Grabbing her purse and phone, Catie walked outside.

The sky was dark, almost like it was about to storm, so Catie wasn’t surprised that there weren’t many people walking around on the street. She’d have to make her break quick because she honestly didn’t feel like getting rained on. Catie made her way to a bench that led to a mini forest that people loved to jog through.

“Ahh...” Catie sighed in relief when she sat down and cool wind blew cool air in her face. It felt nice out, the complete opposite of how she felt on the inside. Catie tried her best to keep Luke out of her thoughts so she pulled out her phone and played Candy Crush. She couldn’t help it. No matter how busy Catie’s life got, she always had time for Candy Crush. Catie played on her phone for twenty minutes before she felt refreshed. “I’ll be able to focus now.” Catie stood up then, smoothed out her black cashmere skirt and collected her belongings.

“Grr.” Catie paused when she heard a noise behind her.

“Is that a dog?” Catie asked herself and looked over her shoulder. Whatever that growling noise was, she couldn’t see it. Catie sped up her movements then and started walking quickly away from the forest.

“Grr..!” Catie heard the growling noise again, but this time she took off running. The animal that was growling at her was definitely big. When Catie thought that she had gotten a good distance away from the angry animal, she heard hard and quick running behind her. Against her better judgement, Catie looked over her shoulder to see what it was.

“Oh my god!” Catie screamed in horror when she saw an oversized wolf chasing after her. She only saw wolves around the area when she went to the zoo, but she was sure that they didn’t get this big. Is this a shapeshifter?! Catie thought to herself.

“Come here girl,” the creature growled and hearing the creature’s voice confirmed what Catie already knew. The wolf was a shapeshifter and it was apparent that the creature was after her life. Catie tried to scream for help, but she couldn’t find her voice. She was literally so scared that she couldn’t scream. This was definitely the worst day of her life. Catie felt as if she was slowing down, and even though her lungs burned she knew that she was still running as fast as she could. The problem wasn’t that she was running too slowly, the problem was she couldn’t outrun a wolf.

“Ah,” Catie groaned when the creature jumped on top off her and pinned her down. She was lying on her back and she was staring into the green eyes of the snarling wolf.

“It’s nothing personal, Catherine Ziles, but you’ve made an enemy with the wrong one,” the wolf said and snarled at Catie again. She was surprised that the wolf knew her by name, she knew that she was a news reporter, but a lot of people today didn’t watch the news often. And what the wolf said surprised her. So… this isn’t just a random attack?! The wolf growled, cocked its head to the side, and aimed it towards Catie’s throat. She closed her eyes quickly because she knew this was the end for her.

“Ah!” Catie yelped when she heard a loud hiss and felt the weight of the wolf’s body forcibly taken from her. Catie opened her eyes and was greeted by a large lion on top of the wolf biting into its neck. Catie stared at the scene in front of her in horror. The lion hissed and growled loudly and the wolf whimpered in pain. The wolf stood no chance. The lion didn’t look at Catie, but she could see the color of its eyes as she looked on in horror. Even with the lion’s face bloody and gory with the wolf’s insides, she knew that this was another shapeshifter, and she knew right away the animal that saved her.

“Luke?” Catie whispered as everything around her went black.

****

Catie awoken when she felt something cold and wet press against her forehead. Catie opened her eyes to darkness, but she couldn’t help but see the glow of golden eyes.

“How are you feeling, Catie?” Luke asked as he wiped Catie’s face with a damp wash cloth. Catie was confused to where she was and why Luke was there, but she suddenly remembered getting attacked by a wolf when she was taking a break from work. Catie jumped up quickly once all of the memories came back to her.

“Calm down, Catie. You’re safe, nobody is going to hurt you.” Luke said and gently touched her shoulder.

“What the… did you call that monster on me? You have a grudge that bad that you try to get me killed?” Catie shouted as she remembered seeing Luke as a lion rip through the wolf’s neck. She felt sick to her stomach.

“Of course not, Catherine.” Luke said with anger apparent in his voice. “I care about you. I would never hurt you or allow anyone else to hurt you. If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have gotten that fool off of you. Plus, I would have killed you myself!” Luke yelled. It hurt him that Catie honestly thought he was capable of hurting her. Catie grimaced at the look in Luke’s eyes and brought her hands to her face. She couldn’t believe that happened to her. She felt cold all over her body when she thought she was going to be killed by that monster. Was that the way Abbey felt when she was killed?

“Thank you…” Catie choked out. She still couldn’t stand the sight of Luke, but if it wasn’t for him… she’d be dead right now. “Did you… did you kill him?” Catie asked quietly. Those words felt foreign to her lips. She kept her head in her hands so she couldn’t see Luke’s reaction.

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