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Chapter 2: What She Was Now

Seven years later…

“And where are you going?” asked Selene in her usual irritating voice as she barged into a room. “Off to stalk your favorite rotter?”

“Need I remind you that Killian was your job? But he was too smart and too manipulative, as you have put it, for you to handle. So father had to assign him to me,” Vanya responded. As usual, Selene, the daughter of their pack’s beta, was being pesky again.

“Oh! So, you two are on a first-name basis now. How adorable?”

She rolled my eyes. “I don’t have time for this.”

“Lord Alaric’s house will be here in three days. Do you think you’d have time to prepare yourself for their arrival, my dear adopted sister?”

Adopted. Although she was one, Vanya hated the word.

“I have a name, Selene. One that your father, our father, had lovingly given me.”

Her real family had been gone for years. Despite the fact that her she pretended to have forgotten her past yet it still haunted her dreams, Vanya was always shocked at how well she'd kept it together. If it hadn't been for the scar on her forearm, she probably would have assumed losing them was just some twisted nightmare.

Selene smirked. “I’m sorry. My tongue slipped again, Vanya.”

She stood still in front of the mirror and thought how, seven years later, her name still seemed so foreign to her. But she couldn’t blame herself. For sixteen years, she was Jenny to her real family. Jenny Duff. The name was so plain and ordinary. But after the night the hunters found her, she was reborn as Vanya Reed, Randall and Celeste Reed's adopted daughter and a committed rogue hunter.

“Vanya, you in here?” The sound of Ares’ voice cut into Vanya’s thoughts and made both Selene and herself turn.

“She’s here,” Selene immediately responded on her behalf. For as long as Vanya could recall, her dear stepsister had been pining for their pack's zeta. Ares, on the other hand, had better things to do than do her.

Poor sister.

“There you are,” As soon as he emerged by the doorway, Ares' eyes locked onto Vanya’s. He continued after giving her a once-over, “I need to speak to you.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“In my office.” His left brow arched.

“I have to leave now. Lachlan and the others are wait―”

Quickly, he raised a hand to shut Vanya up. “My office. Now,” he ordered and walked away.

Selene turned to her, smirking. “Don’t worry, sister, the minute Ares becomes Alpha and I, his Luna, I will make sure you’re taken care of. You know, help you retire early and live peacefully somewhere far away since you don’t have a mate.”

“What did I do to deserve such a caring and considerate sister as yourself?” she replied.

Selene grinned; her brown eyes bore into Vanya’s emerald ones. “Aren’t you just lucky, right? Go now. It’s not right to make our zeta wait.” She stepped out of her room, her heels clunking on the wooden floor.

For a brief moment, Vanya studied her reflection in the mirror. She had never imagined herself in a tight-fitting leather bodysuit, hunting vampire and shifter rogues. Her life had become a far cry from the university life she had pictured when she was younger.

Jenny, stop. You are Vanya and this is your life now, she hissed at herself. Taking her two customized handguns from the desk, Ebony and Ivory, she quickly left her room and went to see Ares.

Slouched in his chair behind the wooden desk, Ares looked up from the blueprint laid out on the table in front of him as soon as she entered his office. Acting oblivious to his predatory gaze, she asked him, “What is it?”

He stood up and walked up to her, his blue eyes never leaving her. She opened her mouth to ask him again, but as soon as he was remotely close to her, he walked her backward. When she felt the shelf at her back, he pinned her down.

“What is it?” He gave a little chuckle of disbelief. “Why don’t you take a guess? What do you think is going through my mind right now?”

He laid his head on her shoulder, his lips inches away from her neck. She knew this act. “I’m assuming fucking me from behind?” she told him matter-of-factly.

Grabbing her waist, Ares whirled her around. “You know me very well. I’m impressed.” He dipped his head to kiss her, cupping her ass in his rough palms. She reacted instinctively, parting her lips and allowing his tongue her mouth.

Vanya’s eyes fluttered shut, and she knew Lachlan and the other hunters would have to wait at least half an hour for her.

Kissing Ares always made her feel warm and fuzzy. When he took her so-called innocence a few years ago, she learned that. It didn't bother her back then, and it doesn't bother her now. He was a man long before he turned eighteen, admired by most women and idolized by most men in their pack. He was both a leader and a warrior from birth.

“You know how this get up of yours fucking turns me on, Vanya,” he whispered. His hands followed the curve of her shoulders, resting on the small of er back and drawing her in closer. Between her thighs, she could feel his hard erection.

“Ares, they're waiting for me,” she murmured, forcing her eyes open. “And I believe you still have a meeting with your father.”

But instead of releasing her, he unzipped her top from the back and pulled her pants down. “They can wait.” He raised his hand to his mouth and slid two of his fingers between his lips.

“Ares.” She bit her lower lip, preparing herself for what he was about to do.

“And what do you have going on here?” He slipped his hand in between her thighs and then pushed aside her panties. She instantly gasped when he rubbed two damp fingers over her throbbing mound.

It was the middle of the day, and a soft moan of lust rolled off Vanya’s tongue.

“Shit.” Her head dropped back and he continued to rub her before edging inside her hot center. She bucked hard against his fingers. “I have to…ah… to…ah…go.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be quick,” Ares assured her, looking as though he was thoroughly enjoying her shrill protests, particularly when she dripped against his fingers.

“No. Thirty minutes is not a fucking quickie…” She objected, yet her hands tugged on his jacket. “I have to go.” She began panting. They’d done this so many times before. She knew for a fact that they were never really quick.

Ares laughed a little and removed his hand from between her legs to discard his jacket. “It will be this time.” He picked her up and pushed her onto his work desk.

She giggled slightly as he eagerly pushed the hem of her top up, then kissed the pale curves of her breasts spilling over her plain black bra.

“I’ve been thinking of fucking you with my tongue since I woke up this morning.”

“Oh, no, don’t say things like that when all we can really do right now is a quickie.”

When Ares talked dirty, Vanya usually turned to mush and lost it. Laughing sexily, he nipped at her collarbone and then smiled against her throat.

“But really, your tongue can fuck me later tonight,” she argued even when her hands were flicking open his belt buckle. She shoved his pants and his boxers down his ass.

“And I will,” Ares assured her, groaning the second she wrapped her hands around his cock. He braced one hand on the edge of the table and used the other to shift her panties aside. “I will make you make you cum again and again and again.” With that, he plunged inside her.

“Ah!” Vanya gasped.

“You have no idea how much I love the way your back arches and your legs drape around my waist, Vanya. And your fucking combat boots digging into me. So hot.”

“Oh, yeah?” she panted.

“Hell yeah.” He was unbearably aroused. A quickie before she leaves always sets him on fire. But the fact that his room was just a few feet away from the conference room meant they couldn’t be as loud as they wanted to.

He braced both of his hands on the desk for leverage and thrust deep and hard. She moaned his name—not quite a scream, but she knew he loved it. Her hand fisted his dark brown hair, crushing her mouth against his. Then, his one hand snaked between their bodies to rub over her bud while his hard length shot faster inside her nonstop. He meant to make her cum quickly. When she moaned, he bit at her lower lip.

Soon, with a husky suppressed shout, she shuddered and clamped around him, and quickly, Ares, too, was ready to blow.

“Oh, fuck!” He choked out and pulled out his rock-hard cock with one hand, pumping it while his two fingers thrust in and out of her until eventually, they both reached their climax. When the tip of his throbbing manhood rubbed against her center, she trembled.

“Stop it,” Vanya said while still rocking through her orgasm. “I can’t stay here long, or they’ll get suspicious.”

Ares hadn’t found his mate yet, and she wasn’t sure if he was even searching for her at all. But what they shared was something he and her agreed to keep to themselves. Being originally human, Moira, Alpha Callum’s supposed spiritual adviser, had told her and everyone concerned that she couldn’t be mated, that only natural-born shifters were given by the moon goddess the gift of lifelong companionship.

Well, screw her, Vanya had then thought. She didn’t need the moon goddess to help her get a man.

She left Ares’ office the minute after she put her pants back on. He wanted her to stay and let Lachlan and the rest of the hunters survey Hollows Forest. Of course, he wanted more of her. But she worked too damn hard to become a damn good hunter, and she couldn’t let anyone stop her from doing her job.

Not even Ares.

“Later.” She smiled at him and left his office, and headed back to her room. The most inconvenient part of secretly fucking Ares was having to take another shower to get rid of his scent. She couldn't let any of the other members of the pack smell him on her. So she quickly showered and washed his scent off her skin. She meet her group as soon as she was done and they took off.

“You take the east, Vanya,” Lachlan gave out his orders when they arrived at the mouth of Hollows Forest. “You and Rowan.”

“It’s alright. I can manage on my own,” Vanya said and walked away before he could react. Although she liked and admired Lachlan as their kappa, she preferred working alone. Rowan, on the other hand, was a blabbermouth. Plus, he couldn't stop talking about Selene, which was incredibly irritating for her.

By mid-afternoon, she’d already covered more grounds from what Lachlan had assigned her. She kept walking through the woods, listening for any noises that might mean danger. When she approached the forest's edge, the atmosphere became increasingly odd. Everything seemed to be about to leap out at her. She knew she shouldn’t really be bothered. she was a hunter and a skillful one at that. Lachlan had trained her well.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. She quickly turned her head when she heard a noise, footsteps that were too quiet for a human to even barely notice. Suddenly, he appeared behind her.

“Killian,” she breathed his name. She had been hunting him for three months now, and he kept escaping her.

Well, not this time, Vanya thought as she looked at his steel-blue eyes, which was a bad move—a terrible move in fact as she was all of a sudden entranced. She still couldn’t believe he could do it. Vampires had the luck of having eyes that could hypnotize anyone. Not that they really needed it for she hadn't really found any shit-looking vampires yet—not even rogues or rotters, as they fondly refer to them.

And Killian was a rotter, but he was no vampire. He was a shifter.

“Hello again, Red.” His low growl sent a shiver up her spine.

He stepped closer, but she remained motionless, waiting for his next move, as if a part of her wanted him to shift and end my life. But, as with our previous encounters, all he did was stand close to me, as if breathing my scent.

Shit. I took careful backward steps until my back hit a tree.

“Now it’s just you and me again, I see,” he whispered, slowly moving towards her, his gaze fixed and steady and mouth slightly open. When he was just a breath away, he placed his hands on either side of her face, locking her in. “Shall we pick up where we left off, Red?”

“Killian.” She took in his scent, his lips lingering hers, her eyes closing against the swell of raw emotion that rose inside her. She struggled to gain focus and control.

“I asked you before. And I’ll ask as you again now,” he husked. “Will you let me taste you if I let you handcuff me, Red?” he asked mockingly. His lips were almost at her throat now.

“Over my dead body,” she hissed, finally mustering the courage to challenge him. She tried to shift, and before she knew it, he was yanked away from her, and his hypnotic spell was instantly broken.

“Ares,” she gasped.

Ares didn't waste any time talking. Instead, he drew a knife and aimed it into Killian's chest in one quick motion. Killian, on the other hand, faked a strike, and when Ares jumped into a defensive stance, he captured Vanya and effortlessly threw her at Ares. This offered him a small window of opportunity to run away.

“Fuck!” Vanya exclaimed as she jumped to her feet.

And just like that, Killian was gone again. She tried to sniff his scent but got nothing. She was certain he was masking his scent with something untraceable. Otherwise, he’d be their prisoner by now.

“Vanya, are you alright?” Ares asked, looking worried and angry at the same time.

“I’ve been trying to get him for months, Ares. So, no. I’m not okay that he’s escaped me again,” She replied rather sternly.

“I meant you. Are you okay?”

She huffed out her annoyance. “I had him. But you had to intervene.”

“You know he could have killed you,” he argued.

“Or it could be the other way around,” she screamed at him. She didn’t care who and what he was. Though she was struggling, she almost had Killian. And Ares blew it by showing up.

“No. He enthralled you. You were like a lovesick puppy standing there between his arms!” he yelled back at her, sounding more jealous now than angry now.

“You saw what he did?”

“Yes.”

“What do you think it means? I mean, he’s a shifter. Not a vampire.”

Ares shook his head, looking as if he couldn’t believe it too. “I’d have to talk to my father about this.” Then he glared at her. “You will never hunt on your own again.”

“What? You can’t do that.”

He smirked. “You know very well that I can.”

“Bite me,” she spat.

He looked around, then his lips curved into a smile. “Do you really want me to?”

She shot him a glare and walked out on him. “Jerk.”

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