“Do you think quitting is an option with this scarred train wreck of a face? Give me a break. I work customer service by day, but I’m a relentless and badass bounty huntress by night. If you have a body you want brought in, I’m your woman.”
“Unfortunately, the government has noticed that, and as such, I have a job for you. The job is big enough we are being expected to work together. I’ll be your handler and informant, and if necessary, your backup.”
What the hell? Since when did I need backup? Okay, to be fair, I’d dragged in a few corpses while hanging out at death’s door myself, but I’d learned my lesson on those jobs. Half the time, I showed up with another woman’s face, using makeup to hide my damned scars so I wouldn’t terrorize the CDC employees.
Sebastian handled my scars better than most, although he’d give me hell for mentioning them. I’d take the blame for any ribbing he gave me over my scars, as he never brought them up unless I did first. Even then, he never poked fun at me.
I could trust Sebastian to somewhat remain a professional. Not only that, he disliked claiming low-lying fruit.
When he went after me, he did so with finesse and his best roars.
I needed to have my virus levels checked. At the rate she was going, I’d be going out of my mind trying to make the damned lion roar by the end of the day. No, not only would I be trying to make him roar, I’d be clawing at his perfect custom-tailored suit so I could get him naked.
“Your expression tells me you’re about to say something I won’t like. Can we skip that until after you hear about the job?”
I narrowed my eyes and considered his request. “I’ll bite, but only this once. Next time, I will aim to make you roar three times before laying off your delicate sensibilities.”
The security guards chuckled, and the lion roared at the pair. Grinning at the deep rumble that would leave my ears ringing for a few minutes, I headed for the elevator. “Lions. So sensitive, right?”
“That’s right, ma’am,” one of the guards replied. I checked his badge to discover his name was Thomas and he was the head honcho of the security team. No wonder they’d settled down after running my credentials.
The head honcho of the security team could likely view my kill count and didn’t want a cranky lycanthrope female with a love-life problem making a mess of his pristine lobby.
Sebastian marched to the bank of elevators and hit the up button. I took my time, as I’d have to break into a jog to keep up with his long legs.
I bet he doubled my size when shifted, which would make toying with him as a cat more entertaining. The size difference didn’t bother me much, as my father weighed in at a little more than twice as heavy as my mother, who enjoyed when my father got rough with her.
Ugh. I was my mother’s daughter. Damn it, the last thing I needed was to want a man who could snap me between his hands and make me like it because it added spice to the relationship. If life went as it usually did, I really would be just like my mother, who enjoyed when she goaded my father into getting rough and rowdy. Us Wells kids had learned to vacate the property the nights our mother went on the hunt for our father, usually picking the sanest neighbor who didn’t mind a huge pile of lynxes on their porch for a few hours.
Damn it, damn it, damn it.
I did not need a big, manly lion to put me in my place. I didn’t need any damned man to put me in my place. I could handle myself just fine.
My virus disagreed with me.
Hell, I disagreed with me. I definitely needed and wanted a big, manly lion to put me in my place. Where ‘my place’ was varied on the day of the week, but I could be flexible when the situation demanded it.
As I couldn’t tell Sebastian what was on my mind, I refrained from hissing my displeasure over the reality of my virus crushing on a lion because he fit my nature a little too well. With my luck, he’d be a sadistic bastard who would enjoy handling me the instant he was given permission.