His parents gave off a hippie vibe? Teeth clacking slightly as he struggled to keep his comments to himself, he raised his brows at her pause. She studied him, taking his measure perhaps?
“No, you own whatever it is you’re doing. You’ve got that control freak thing going for you, very Type A. You want to know who is working for you and why, what they do and I bet you could do the jobs of every single person in your employ. I think you had money going into it, because you don’t feel like the kind of guy who had to create his wealth, but you don’t take it for granted. Somewhere you had an accident or something happened to you…Now you don’t trust easily. I have to wonder if you ever did.”
The accuracy of her depiction wasn’t lost on him. When he opened his mouth to speak, she raised a single finger.
“I’m not done.”
Oh, really? “Do continue,” he murmured. Agitation threaded through his wolf. Leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, he locked gazes with her to test a theory. She’d been meeting his eyes every so often and openly challenged him earlier. The peculiarity in her scent, so alluring earlier, sharpened to piquant.
“You’re bored.” The unexpected assessment silenced his wolf to the point both man and beast stilled. “More than that, you’re lonely. You want so badly out of the cage you’ve constructed around yourself that you’ll keep a total stranger around to talk to instead of your family or your friends or whomever else you’d be with otherwise. I’d bet if I weren’t here, you'd be alone. I think someone broke your heart, and that’s a terrible place to end a story.” Blowing out a breath, she blinked and looked away first. Tipping her glass up, she drained the wine from it before glancing at him again. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry they did. You seem like a nice guy.”
He wanted to dispute everything she said, but his wolf didn’t budge. The human had painted an eerie picture of him with her dangerous insight. Curiosity or threat? Brett didn’t know the answer.
“And now I’ve offended you.” Her wincing expression moved him. Even with his hackles raised, he refused to give her a reason to leave. Not yet.
Not when he had more questions than answers.
“Not at all,” he lied, daring her to contradict him. “I’m still locked on the idea that my parents give off a hippie vibe.”
A familiar scent reached him and he rose, retrieving the wine bottle to refill her glass and scanned the rain soaked darkness beyond the porch. A dusky gray wolf paced out from the far trees. Pierce. With a lift of his chin, he gestured the Hunter back.
“Holy shit.” Colby’s exclamation came out a hissed whisper, then her hand came down on his forearm. Twisted to face the same direction as the wolf, she couldn’t miss him. “That’s a wolf.”
Dammit.
Pierce slipped away and Brett said, “Where?” The lie tasted like acid. Colby wasn’t an idiot.
“Out—where did he go?” She stood, brushing against him as she walked to the edge of the porch to peer into the rain. Did she have zero self-preservation? She thought she saw a wolf, so she decided to get closer? “He was right there.”
Joining her, he watched her rather than the darkness. His nose told him Pierce had backed off significantly. He’d give the Hunter time to shift, then call him to find out if it was just a random pass through—his Hunters did check on him—or if something was wrong. Though he doubted the latter, if something had truly needed his attention Pierce wouldn’t have shown up in wolf form when he knew a human was staying at the house. “Hmm, maybe we should cut back on your wine.”
“I am not seeing things.” The irritation in her voice satisfied him on some level, especially after her piercing insights.
“If you say so.” He kept his voice light.
“I saw a wolf.” She took a step off the porch, and he caught her arm.
“Let’s say you did.” Tugging her to him, he drew her away from the step. “Why would you go chasing after it?”
“I wasn—”
“Where were you going then?”
“I…” She hesitated, then glanced out at the darkness before twisting to face him. Her nearness drowned him in her scent. “I have no idea.”
The honest response provided him with an understanding he’d been craving. “I have a story for you.”
“For me?” Caution filled those amber eyes.
His wolf settled further at the hint of understanding kindling in her expression. Rushing blindly into things didn’t define courage, but by the awareness of the danger and going anyway did. “Yes, for you.” Smoothing his hand over her arm, he waited for the shocks he’d received earlier, but only experienced a mild tingling sensation. Odd, considering she wasn’t pack or a wolf, but another piece of the puzzle to file away.