The Wolf Within Read Online Free Page B

were random. No pattern. No reason to choose the victims. “How would he know I’m working on this?”
    Dan’s face stayed stony. “I’m not taking chances.”
    “Why, Dan, that’s so sweet.” I laid on the sarcastic tone and his eyes narrowed. Score one for me. “But I’m not working here every day. I’m not stupid. I have security.” And even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t agree to spend every day in the same building as Dan. I’d made my decision when it came to him. And it had cost me. I didn’t need a daily reminder of just how much.
    “Your PA? Tate’s more than fifty years older than him. Stronger. He’d rip his head off.”
    I shuddered. “Thanks for the mental image. But no, my security system is not just Jase.”
    I’m not dumb. I deal with vamps and weres and I take precautions. I wear a cross. My accessories are all solid silver. I carry a big ass gun with silver bullets and I know how to hit what I aim it at. The vase of flowers on my desk is full of holy water. If any of my clients decide that I look tasty, then they’ll get a nasty surprise. They might still get me, but I make pretty sure I could hurt them in the process.
    “This is not up for debate, Ashley.”
    I pushed the file back across the desk, a little harder than strictly necessary. “Then I won’t take the job.”
    His face twisted. “You always have to do things the hard way, don’t you?”
    “You mean not the way you want me to? Yep. Sue me. It’s my life.”
    “And you’d throw it away to spite me?” Dan snapped.
    “Oh, get over yourself. I don’t run my life around you—” I broke off as he pulled another folder out of his drawer and tossed it in front of me. “What’s this?”
    “I didn’t want to show you these.”
    “Show me what?” I stared at the folder as if it were a box of tarantulas. It was white and the seal across it was black. The neat little label read ‘Tate, McCallister. SF10536.’ It gave me the willies.
    “These are photos we found in one of Tate’s properties. We tracked it back to him about six years ago.”
    Now I really didn’t want to see the contents. The house where a psychopathic vampire serial killer lived? There was nothing inside that I wanted to see. “What’s that got to do with me?”
    “Just look.”
    I opened the folder reluctantly. The first photo was of a fairly average looking house. Well, a fairly average looking mansion. High walls, trees, big iron gates. Pretty standard. I felt my nerves ease. Then I turned to the next photo and my heart almost leapt out of my chest.
    It was a picture of me. Standing by my parents’ grave. For a moment I tasted bile but I fought it back.
    I recognized the shot; it had run in all the big papers at the time. I hated it. Me in black, my face swollen from crying, watching them bury my life. I was sixteen in that photo. Sixteen going on three hundred. I’d never really felt young after Tate. The thought of Tate having that picture made me feel ill. But I wasn’t going to let Dan see that.
    “So he likes to read the paper.”
    “Keep going.”
    I turned to the next photo. Me again. But this time not so young. College graduation. Years after the Caldwell massacre and Tate’s disappearance. I tasted bile again and dropped the photo as if it were red hot. “But these are—”
    “Keep looking.” Dan’s tone didn’t invite argument.
    Swallowing hard, I leafed through the photos. Me at school. Me at college. The final picture was of a room in Tate’s house. Pictures of me covered one whole wall, a sinister montage. Suddenly the room seemed awfully hot. I closed my eyes as everything started spinning, trying to breathe and not throw up.
    “Ash?”
    Dan was round the desk and by my side before I knew it.
    “Shit, Ash. I didn’t mean to scare you that much.” He put a hand on my back. The warmth of his skin radiated through my suit. God. It was so tempting to lean into him. To let him chase the fear away. Except, when it came to