Namesake (Voiders #1) - Marie Harte Page 0,21

Freaked that she secretly liked the thought of becoming Eric and Dom’s love toy—so not normal—she ignored her inner longings and concentrated on the matter at hand.

Namely, her life.

“You’ll stay with us for a while.” Eric drummed his fingers on the table, his gaze intense.

“How long is a while? I have a life to lead, you know. A business to run.”

“Right.” Dom nodded. He pushed a file at her. “S&V Retrievals. You have a stellar reputation, which is probably why Tommy Chen is after you.”

She clenched her jaw. “Exactly. And why my being here could be very bad for you and your pack. Or clan. Whatever.”

Eric grinned. She blinked, not having seen that small dimple in his left cheek before. Her heart raced. Hell, this man was lethal when not in Ravager form.

His eyes twinkled. “You now belong to me, part of my family. We’re pack, but we’re also all part of the Savage clan.”

“Okay.” Sean had gotten it right, for once. “So what about my cousin? You said those females were your packmates too, right?”

“Yes. They are.” Eric frowned.

“Diana’s marked Sean as hers,” Dom answered. “Which technically makes him ‘ours’ as well,” he said to Eric before turning to Vicki again. “Diana, and maybe Kate, seem fascinated by your cousin. So I don’t see him leaving anytime soon.”

“You don’t seem to understand that he and I have a business to run.”

“Oh?” Eric’s low growl should have threatened her. Instead, it made her wet.

“Look, it’s not that I didn’t like what we did yesterday.” She flushed, trying to concede them something. “But kidnapping me and just, well, taking me away from my life, that’s not legal.”

“It is where we come from.” Dom raised a brow, as if questioning her right to refuse them.

Damn it, blondie’s turning me on too. “Well, you’re in Cross Step, now, wolf-boy. While I’m not fan of the Salinas, even they don’t allow human kidnappings.”

“Wolf-boy?” Dom said as he and Eric exchanged glances. “Tell you what, Foxy, why don’t you accept that you don’t have a decision in this one and sit it out? Once Prime decides what to do with you, we’ll let you know more.”

“Prime, my ass.” She shot to her feet and glared at both males. Angry energy swelled inside her, and she took pleasure in watching both men tense. “Yeah, you feel that don’t you?” She slammed a hand on the table and cracked the solid wood. “I’m giving you one damn hour to figure out the nicest way possible to say I’m sorry. Then I’m taking my cousin and we’re getting the hell out of here.”

Vicki stormed out of the study and followed the heavenly scent of vanilla toward the kitchen, a professional chef’s wet dream. Once there, she ignored a wary Malcolm and focused on another Ravager standing near a bowl of batter. “You, at the griddle.”

“Yeah?” The large Ravager with the raspy voice cocked an eyebrow, waiting. That he didn’t project any of the hostility or aggression she’d sensed in the other males eased some of her tension, as did his tussled hair and sloppy dress. His wrinkled t-shirt and ripped jeans didn’t shout “enforcer” so much as “slacker.”

“Gimme a stack.” She’d save the please for people who deserved it. In her limited experience, Ravagers didn’t rate manners.

“Better do it, Rule. Woman’s got a mean right hook.” Malcolm surprised her with a wink and a grin before leaving.

“Pancakes, coming up.” Rule turned back to the stove, and Vicki took a deep breath, wondering how she planned to make good on her large gestures of defiance. Because if she really wanted to leave, and she did, how did she think she could power through a compound full of Ravagers, even with Sean’s sorry help?

Twenty minutes later, she didn’t much care. She felt too full to do more than digest her food. A glance at her companion showed him in no hurry to push away from the table.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” she asked.

He grunted and shoveled another hunk of food into his mouth. A few Ravagers had come and gone through the kitchen while she’d been eating, but none stayed longer than to get a good look at her. Rule hadn’t acknowledged any of them either.

A glance around her showed that the kitchen had more than enough space to feed two dozen comfortably. She and Rule sat at a smaller table in a nook overlooking the backyard—a vast field to the south of the house. The rolling splendor of