Fated (Pyte/Sentinel 5)

“No thanks. I'm not that desperate yet,” she said, hoping to piss him off.

He simply shrugged it off like it didn't matter when they both knew that it mattered a great deal to him. The man was a whore and she doubted he'd survive another week without sex. Actually, she fully expected him to come begging on his hands and knees in another day or two. She'd of course refuse, but she really was looking forward to torturing him before she turned him down flat.

“Okay, then how about this,” he mused, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied her, “you come work for me and I'll set you up with a place to stay and I'll even help you get some new ID's, but you have to stay until I can find someone to replace you.”

“Doing what?” she asked cautiously. She didn't trust him, never had. He was up to something, she just didn't know what that was yet, but she fully planned on finding out.

“I need a waitress. I'm short staffed and I don't know how long it will be before I can get some shifters interested in the job,” he admitted with a shrug.

Her eyes darted back to Mick to find him nodding in agreement. So, he was having staff issues. That was interesting, but that didn't explain why he’d screwed her over. She also knew that he couldn't just hire humans to work for him. It was too risky and as a Pack Alpha he wouldn't take a chance exposing their world to the humans. Then again, he could hire demons to staff his club, but that brought a whole new world of other issues that no one in their right mind would want to deal with. There might be a few female vampires interested, but Masters paid them more and they would be shunned if they worked for a shifter.

She thought about it for a minute before she stubbornly shook her head. It didn't matter that she was desperate. She couldn’t trust him. For all she knew this was part of his plan. He'd get her to work for him and then what? Would he wipe everything away again and make her life a living hell until she took him up on his penthouse offer?

Probably that and more.

“Thanks, but I'm going to have to pass,” she said, wondering if anyone had a claim on that old refrigerator box near the dumpster. It probably wouldn't be a pleasant experience, but at least she'd stay dry and out of the wind for the night.

“I guess you're all set then,” Drew said, pushing away from the wall. With a nod, he gestured for Mick to return to work. With a grunt, Mick let her know that she could always come to him if she needed help as he returned to the club, leaving her with the man that had destroyed her life.

“If you change your mind, I'm offering you a room, board and a job, but I guess sleeping with rats suites you just fine. Let me know if you change your mind,” he said, walking away as a he whistled an annoyingly jaunty tune.

She looked around the alley and worried her bottom lip. She didn't want to stay here another minute never mind spend the night here. Was she really thinking about doing this?

Yes, but she knew that she couldn't do it, couldn't trust him not to screw her over again. She was just going to have to stay here tonight and figure out a way to salvage this mess and get the hell out of Boston on her own, she decided seconds before the skies opened up and poured down on her.

*-*-*-*

“That package you've been expecting is waiting for you in your office, Mr. McNeil,” Troy, one of his best bartenders, said as Drew walked past the bar to check on the front line, but as soon as the bartender’s words registered in his head, he turned around and headed towards his office, trying to wipe the triumphant grin off his face.

When he opened the door to his office he lost that war and grinned hugely as he took in his unwanted soaked little mate. That glare she was sending his way lost its effect as she stood there, shivering uncontrollably.

“What can I do for you, Kara?” he asked offhandedly as he walked around his desk and sat down. He leaned back in his chair as he watched her struggle with the need to tell him off and ask for help.

“Is that job still available?” she bit out tightly through clattering teeth.

He made a show of thinking it over. “It might be. Why? Do you know someone interested in the job?”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously on him and he had to wonder if it was wrong to get so much joy out of making her life hell when she was already down. Probably, but he didn't care. He was enjoying himself and as far as he was concerned she had it coming.

After all the years of bullshit, taunting him, teasing him and working him to the point where he didn't know if he wanted to fuck her or strangle her, she had this coming. Even if this didn't lead her to being his mistress it should at least teach her a lesson in humility.

“Cut the crap, Drew. How much, how many hours, when do I start and where's this room you promised me?” she demanded in her typical no bullshit fashion.

“Well, I normally pay ten dollars an hour, but seeing how you need room and board I can only offer you half of that.”

“What? That's bullshit!” she snapped.

“You get to keep your tips of course,” he explained, which seemed to please her if that calculating gleam in her eye meant anything. Then again, maybe he should tell her that he was going to assign her to serve humans and the vampires who were notoriously bad tippers. Nah, he'd let her discover that one on her own.

“You'll pay me under the table,” she informed him, not asked, he noted.

“Of course.” It might not be legal, but he had to do that for several of the shifters that worked for him since none of them wanted their old Packs to find them.

“I'll need an advance,” she said, trying to sound firm, but failed.

“Not going to happen,” he said, wondering if she really thought he was that stupid. She'd take his money and run and they both knew it.

She scoffed as she gestured to her ruined clothes. “I need to buy clothes. I can't go around naked.”

“You could if you took me up on my penthouse offer,” he said, making a mental note to enforce naked Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays when she finally took him up on his offer.

With a small shake of her head, she headed for the door. “Forget it. This was a stupid idea anyway.”

“Oh, so you have a place to stay once you come into heat? Which if what I've been told is true, could be tomorrow or a month from now? You know what you'll face if you don't have somewhere safe to hide when it hits,” he said, knowing damn well that he'd have her ass in the penthouse before her first mating heat hit.

There was no way that he was allowing any other man to have access to what was his and he sure as hell wasn't going to miss the first mating heat, not after everything he'd heard. He was also going to make damn sure that he was only male around when it came time and he was going to make her beg him for his cock before he gave it to her.