The Sentinel's Maid

Chapter 3

Luka’s POV

She looked at me like she’d just seen a ghost. And perhaps she had. I bet most of the time a thief enters a house illegally, they don’t expect to run into any company. Or at least hope they won’t. And by the way, this girl smelled I say someone had screwed her over two ways to hell…

Quick as lightning, she grabbed a stabler off the desk and threw it at me. She probably expected me to dodge or something, but I easily caught it. And let out a strangled huff, when the girl ran right into me, trying to escape.

I gripped the back of her neck and swung her back into the room. Letting the stabler fall to the ground, I gripped her hands and forced both of her arms around her back. Careful, of course, since she was human and in reality didn’t stand a chance against my inhuman strength.

“Let me go!”

She growled and tried to kick out at me. I grinned. She had spunk, I’d give her that much!

“As you wish,” I replied and dumped her onto the sofa. She squealed at the sudden release and ended up with her face buried in the pillows. I took a step back, watching as she struggled to get upright and finally she turned to me.

My heart skipped a beat when I finally realized how young she was. f**k! She couldn’t be more than 15! Her big brown eyes took up most of her face and in the dim light from the moon, she looked almost ethereal. Like she was more than just human…

Just in case, I stuck my nose out and took another deep breath, taking in her scent. It was lovely! Flowery and earthy. As for human went, she had the most exquisite scent I’d ever smelled. But under the potent scent of flowers, I didn’t know the name of, was the scent of a human. So, there was no mistake! She was human…

But she lived with rogues?!

Did she even know what they were? She had to because the scent of them was integrated into her skin, almost drowning out the wonderful natural scent she had. That meant she’d lived with them for a long time, and there was no way, that a human and a rogue could live together and one of them not figuring out what the other was…

She made another attempt at the door, trying to bypass me. I grunted and threw her back on the sofa, still careful that I didn’t hurt her.

“Enough,” I growled, not at all amused. Sure, I didn’t want to hurt her – and I definitely didn’t want to f**k a minor! – but I was still slightly annoyed that she’d broken into my home. Especially since it looked like she was aiming for my computer, which was a direct link to my work as Head Sentinel.

“Who put you up to this?” I took a step forward, placing myself between the door and the girl. “What did you plan on getting off my laptop?”

She turned her big, fearful eyes on me again. I could see the wheels in her mind spinning a million miles a second and before she even opened her mouth, I knew she was lying, as the stench of it filled the air…

“I--- I must have taken a wrong turn,” she said, her voice shaking as she tried to play it cool. “I thought this was my aunt's home; I’m supposed to stay with her for tonight.

“Sure,” I spat skeptically and arched an eyebrow at her--- but realized that I was still clouded in darkness, and with her human eyes, she wouldn’t be able to see me. “And you got lost looking for the bathroom?”

Fear permeated the air after that statement. She was scared of me, terrified even. Good! That should teach her not to break into a werewolf’s home in the future…

Just to drive the point home, that I wasn’t buying her act, I folded my arms over my chest and snorted out loud: “You have to do better than that, little mouse!”

“It’s…I-I---it’s-it’s not…,” she stuttered, her small body was shivering slightly. “It was a dare.”

Right!

“I like that game,” I replied, feeling slightly guilty about having a kid trembling in fear of me. And hell, she hadn’t even seen my face yet… “How about I dare you to cut the bullshit and tell me the truth, hmm?” I said this time trying to be amusing, but it was close to impossible with my growly voice. “What are you doing here?”

“I already told you,” she gulped, carefully sliding off the couch and eyed the door longingly. “It was a dare!”

“I told you to cut the bullshit,” I cut her off, now just annoyed with her lies. “Why were you breaking into my house?”

I already had a good idea what they’d tried getting at, but I wanted to confirm it anyway. I was the Head Sentinel and my work included putting away a lot of bad people, some of them even very powerful. With a lot of willing followers to do just about anything to get them out. However, there was the chance she didn’t know, and the rogues were just using her. After all, if a human was found on pack land they’d just be handed over to the authorities. If a rogue was caught… Well, that would be his last day of living.

“I-I---,” she stuttered again, but apparently the small human had some seriously big balls! On wobbly legs that she was trying to hide, she got to her feet and defiantly crossed her arms over her chest, probably trying to mimic my stand. A grin slipped over my scarred lips.

“I know my rights,” she said--- and her voice almost didn’t shake when she said it. “I don’t have to tell you s**t!”

Yeah, this girl got some serious spunk…

“You want me to call the cops?” I taunted, knowing that that was probably the last thing she wanted. “I can do that, no problem…”

“NO!”

I frowned, as every ounce of confidence left her and was replaced with a bone-deep terror, that even made my hair stand on end.

“Please, don’t involve the cops!” she cried out and her lips quivered. “I promise. I’ll never do it again! I’ve learned my lesson, please?”

Had it been a day at the office, I would have called bullshit on this act. But unlike most supernaturals, humans couldn’t hide their scent. And the terror and fear she exhumed were almost overwhelming. Whoever put her up for this, she was clearly more terrified of them than of any law enforcement; and that included me apparently.

That’s if she even knew who I was…

“Please? Just let me go?” she pleated and wetness shimmered in her eyes. Ok, so this is the part where most males would think they were assholes and let the small, terrified human go since she clearly hadn’t gotten what she came for anyway and most likely would never set foot onto his property ever again…

But most males weren’t me!

“Let you go?” I echoed, unable to believe the nerve of some humans. Did she think that just because she was small and little she should get away with this s**t? Hell, I was more tempted to grab her neck and throw her into one of Dad’s cells back at the pack house. At least a few days of that would teach her not to break into other people’s homes…

“Please?” she pleaded again--- and the anguish in her voice melted a little bit of my resolve to lock her up and just throw away the key. The panic in her eyes was real – she really was terrified to get the cops involved. And I groaned when I realized that I couldn’t involve them nor could I take her to Dad, who more than likely would chew her ass out for being in his pack and smelling of rogues. And despite her being just a kid, I couldn’t just let her off the hook. She was clearly skilled and had done this often, which meant a scare from the cops or getting caught once wasn’t enough to steer her right.

And I wanted to steer her right.

I don’t know why I had that compulsion all of a sudden. Probably just one of those conveniences you needed to move a plot forward or the fact that I kept getting annoyed hard seeing her in front of me like this. I know I shouldn’t, but with her small, fragile, and scared human body in front of me like this? It had every protective instinct I had fired up to a million degrees! She was too pretty, too smart, and too--- just about everything to keep on stealing for a living! Perhaps she just needed a push in the right direction?

But who? And how?

I didn’t have any skills that could help a deranged teen, and I wasn’t sure I had the patience for it either. Or the wolf, considering the beast did pretty much as he pleased whenever he took control. Was I even safe for her to be around---

And when the f**k did I start putting myself into the middle of all of this?!

It had barely been a week since I’d talked to LJ and despite him not asking directly, he’d driven the point home pretty clearly. I WAS dangerous to be around people right now and unless I got my f*****g s**t together, I wouldn’t be Head Sentinel much longer.

Hell, I probably wouldn’t be alive for much longer…

I tried to clear my head and focus on the task in front of me. No! The human female needed a firm, but kind and gentle hand. Perhaps I could call Mom, and see if she could do something? But of course, she was in Sin City, helping Landon to set up everything for his mother-in-law when she came back from the hospital…

I wonder if I should call Dad and ask him about it. I grinned at the thought. Last time Dad had a damsel in distress dropped off on his front porch, he made her his---

And suddenly the idea struck me!

“I won’t call the cops,” I said, acting on the impulse before I’d managed to think about it any further. I took a step forward, pleased when I noticed the girl didn’t flinch away. Instead, she steeled herself against me, straightening her spine.

“Thank you,” she breathed, relieved thinking she was getting out of this mess. “I promise, I---”

“If,” I cut her off and leaned just a little bit closer. Close enough to let her finally see my face. “You’ll agree to be my MAID, for the next 3 months!”

*

Cat’s POV

His face finally came into the light, and I couldn’t stop the gasp that rose up in my throat and slipped past my lips. He had huge scars all over his throat and jaw. The left side of his face was marred with thin white lines that clearly were the result of claw marks. One line cut straight through his lips making them look thinner than what they actually were and the cut continued to his chin, cutting it in half. His throat was a mangled mess! As if some dog – or wolf! – had tried to claw out his gullet. Most of them continued further down his chest and disappeared behind his T-shirt.

I gulped, forcing my eyes away from the horrible sight, and looked into the man’s cold, dark gray eyes. He had a short, military cut and in the light from the moon, it looked silver. If he hadn’t been so scary, he’d be one extremely gorgeous male… Or more correctly, even more gorgeous!

Because the man was HOT!

As in scorching, “s*x on freaking legs”- HOT!

He wasn’t a model, no! But the high cheekbone and those eyes just--- And oh goddess! I hadn’t even gotten to his bod yet! If I’d ever thought Jack was well built, well, he didn’t hold even a candle to this hunk of juicy meat! His arms were the size of tree trunks, and his chest just went on for days! He was about the same height as Jack, 6”2 or thereabout, but whereas Jack just radiated meanness, this powerhouse of a wolf radiated protectiveness and safety. Which in turn made me want to melt into a puddle on the floor and sign myself up for some fangirl-ing…

“You’re what now?” I had to ask since I was pretty sure I must have heard him incorrectly.

Did he say MAID?!

“Maid,” he repeated back at me, the one side of his lips twitching up in an almost grin. “You know: do the disses, scrub the floors…”

“I have a life, you know,” I cut him off, angry that he’d suggest that and perhaps slightly offended. What kind of jerk made deals like that? But the sad reality in this whole mess was that I should be at his feet, kissing them in gratitude. Because in truth I didn’t have much choice in the matter. I could either agree to his terms, spill my beans about Rick and his nasty plans – of which I didn’t know anything or much about – or have this guy call the cops.

Just thinking about being handed over to the cops sent a new shiver of fear down my spine. Susann and Lauran wouldn’t have any qualms over letting me rot in jail.

And then my life really would be over!

Just another 6 weeks! Just six weeks and I’d be out of this mess! I’d be free to finally live my life a little. To get a real job and get out from under my parent’s shadow. To finally be my own person…

6 weeks…

“No, you don’t,” he replied as it was just a matter of fact. “The second I call those cops your life is over. Because I’m pretty sure, they’ll connect your fingerprints with a bunch of home break-ins, and then they won’t care that you’re a kid! They’ll trial you as an adult and that means 2-5 years jail time. Not to mention that you won’t be able to finish school, you won’t be able to get a degree, and last but not least, you won’t be able to get a job, because no one will hire an ex-con! Especially not a thief!”

And that – ladies and gentlemen – was my life in a nutshell!

“Then there’s the whole thing with you being a rogue and you're currently on pack territory,” he continued, narrowing his eyes at me, while a smug grin twitched at his lips. “I bet if I called the alpha, you’d be f****d both ways to hell. And from what I heard…” He leaned just a little bit closer, making sure I saw the threat in his eyes. “Alpha Stone eats rogues for breakfast.”

I gulped hard!

Alpha Stone?

AS IN FREAKING ALPHA LEVI STONE?!

Alpha of the Black Lunar Pack?!

“So what’s it going to be, mouse?” he said, apparently pleased with the terror manifesting on my face. “Do you want the orange jumpsuit or the maid uniform?”

Screwed! So very, very screwed!