The Hunted (Sleeping With Monsters Book 2) by Cassie Alexander Page A

until the last moment before throwing myself against the loose
door on him with wolf-strength. He dropped instantly with a concussion and a
bleeding broken nose – and the next man in the hall shouted in surprise. I took
a risk and leapt for him, getting too close too fast for him to use the gun,
and reached for his throat, breaking his windpipe with one hand. A second later
Vincent was in the hall, naked, except for a Steyr TMP. 
    “What the hell?” he
said, surveying the situation, gun ready.
    “Grab the girls’ phones
– someone told these idiots you were home and occupied.” I bent over to grab
one ankle of each man and dragged both of them into the condo.
    Vincent left to do as I
said and I heard screams of protest from the other room. He returned with pants
on, hauling the brunette out.
    “Who’d you tell?” he
said, holding her phone.
    “I can’t tell you –“
she said, squirming in his arms. She looked even more like prey in that moment,
her eyes wild. My wolf salivated, wanting to see her try to run . 
    “You do realize that
those men were going to kill you, too, don’t you?” I told her. As the only
sober person in the room, my voice had some authority. “Whoever planned this
wasn’t going to leave witnesses.”
    She shook her head and
her eyes went even wider. Vincent hugged her close. “Tell me who planned it and
I let you go. Don’t, and I keep you here overnight, and say you tipped me off.”
    I looked over to him as
she gasped. Even intoxicated, my alpha was in control.  
    “It was Jimmy -- but
you can’t tell him I told you –“ she turned in his arms, from escaping to
clinging. “You have to give me some money, help me to run.”
    Vincent shrugged, cold.
“You don’t deserve anything, after selling me out. Go –“ he pointed towards the
broken door.
    “But –“ she whined.
    “If you talk to me
again I’ll have Max kill you.”
    She looked over at me –
and at the bodies on the floor, downed by my hand. That’s right. I’m the the
big bad wolf. Furiously pissed but more frightened, she took off with just
the clothing on her back. Vincent watched her go then turned to me. “Give the
other girl a couple of hundred, and get her out. I need to make some calls.”
    I got the money out of
Vincent’s petty cash drawer and rousted the blonde, who was too high or drunk
to care. By the time I’d gotten her to the elevator and back, Vincent was done.
    I knew he had bosses
who had bosses, and he himself had men beneath him, other soldiers -- they gave
me curt nods when our paths overlapped. What I didn’t know was that there was a
cavalry for situations just like this -- within thirty minutes, our penthouse
was like an Amish barn raising. People showed up to change the door, clean the
floor, take the one body away to dispose of, take the other man in to
interrogate, and threaten or bribe neighbors on other floors into silence.
Thirty minutes after that, Vincent and I were alone again.
    He was sober now and I
noticed he hadn’t shared the information the brunette had given him with the
boss or the workerbees that’d shown up. I knew from living with him that his
revenge would be personal – and hoped I’d be lucky enough to get involved in
it.
    He was sitting on his
couch much as I had earlier, elbows on knees, his head in his hands.
    I went to the bar and
made him a drink, the last of his whiskey and two ice cubes, the way I knew he
liked it. “You’ll have to move now.”
    “I know,” he said, taking the
drink from my hand.
    It wasn’t that where he lived
was a secret, but there were too many neighbors here – and not enough brick to
catch stray bullets.
    “This is not how I thought
things were going to go. Tonight was going to be my night.” He rocked back into
the couch and looked up at me, giving me a sly smile without taking a sip of
his drink.
    “I’m sorry your celebrations
were interrupted.”
    He shrugged one shoulder,
still eyeing me. “They hadn’t