CHAPTER 2

Her mention of his name tamed the room slightly. Well, it brought a thoughtful expression on the bartender's face if nothing else. He leaned down and picked up a phone from underneath the bar. "There's an arrogant bitch in here who doesn't understand the concept of no dogs allowed," he said shortly, his tone full of anger. He listened quietly for a second and then looked at Loretta. "Name," he barked ominously.

Loretta's lips twitched slightly as she considered her response. He must have called Andrei. She tried not to show any sign of relief that he'd had the brains to do so. Maybe she wasn't about to die in the next couple of minutes after all.

"Rose," she answered, her lips twitching further. She was playing a dangerous game, relying on the vampire to remember their last conversation. Maybe he had forgotten her completely, it had been almost a year ago and vampires were such a fickle people, swiftly moving on to the next thing that caught their attention without a second thought for what they were leaving behind.

The bartender hung up after listening quietly for another long moment. He turned and grabbed a bottle of red wine and two glasses, putting it down on the bar in front of her. His head jerked to the door to his left marked private. "You're to go down." His attention turned from her immediately, his eyes raking the room quickly as if silently conveying some message to his own kind.

The music suddenly started up again and Loretta breathed a sigh of relief as she grabbed the bottle and glasses and moved over to the indicated door. Andrei clearly must have remembered her. She felt a stirring of excitement inside her and tried to dampen it down as she pushed through the door and started making her way down the long flight of stairs before her. She was here on pack business, not personal business. She had to keep that firmly in mind.

Andrei Romanov leaned back in his chair, his keen ears listening to the heels tapping lightly on the stairs as the spicy scent of cinnamon drew closer. He tapped a long finger against his lips as he smiled slightly, his interest piqued as to why the little she wolf was entering his domain. She was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. He couldn't work out which one at the moment.

Not a lot surprised the elder vampire anymore but the woman approaching his office just had, for the second time. The first was the night of the war, when he had found her broken and close to death, still in wolf form at the time. He had gone to put her out of her misery but found himself unable to do so. It had been disconcerting to say the least and very out of character for him.

Instead of killing the she wolf he had healed her with his blood, giving up a secret of his kind which was once closely guarded. Had she kept that secret or had she told her Alpha at the first possible opportunity? It was something he had always wondered about when she came to mind. Something which happened much too often for his liking.

Still, he couldn't help smiling as he listened to her reach the door, a little shiver of excitement coursing through his body at the thought of seeing her again. The last time she had been covered in bruises, her feminine beauty hidden under the damage done to her body. He felt as if this would be the first time he was truly seeing her.

The office door opened and she stepped through, stopping in the doorway. His brown eyes quickly travelled over her body poured into the most delicious little red dress he had ever seen, his appreciation for her tempting womanly curves causing his blood to heat slightly. Damn, she was surprising him again, or rather; his reaction to her was surprising him again.

She looked hot, there was no denying that. Her breasts were pleasantly firm and rounded, the plunging vee of her neckline showing ample creamy white flesh. Her small waist was pinched tight in the dress, her hips flaring out as the tight material clung to her like a second skin before ending mid- thigh showing off her strong, sleek legs. She wasn't a tall woman, maybe five feet three or four but in her red patent leather heels her legs looked so much longer, her calves so graceful.

His eyes travelled back up her body to her face and he actually struggled to keep his expression carefully neutral. She'd let her hair grow out. The thick brown locks rested just on the top of her shoulders in silky waves. It really suited her, softening her slightly sharp features which couldn't really be termed as beautiful in a classical way but were exceedingly attractive despite that. He smiled as he watched her silently, seeing her deep brown eyes sizing him up just as intently as he was her.

Loretta was so still because she quite literally found herself unable to move. Andrei Romanov was even more beautiful than she remembered from their first meeting. Granted she had been in a considerable amount of pain and close to death at the time, but even still, she had registered his inhuman beauty despite that. Her memory had obviously been clouded with the pain because it didn't do him justice though.

His long, light brown hair was loose around his shoulder, his brown eyes intent as they travelled over her body very slowly and actually caused a stirring of liquid heat inside her which she fought down before she started scenting up the room in a very embarrassing way. Her gaze slowly roamed over his strong, hard face, taking in the strong brow, high chiselled cheekbones, hard, granite jaw and soft, slightly curved lips. The vampire was a walking advertisement for all things that were alpha male; hot, sexy and extremely dangerous.

His big body was huge even sitting down. She knew he was around six feet tall and so strong he could snap her neck with barely any force required. His wide shoulders and arms made his white, silk shirt bulge slightly, the soft material at odds with the hardness of his physique.

Her gaze didn't get much further than that because he remained seated but her memory of him knew she wouldn't be disappointed in the rest of his amazing body. She could still remember how it felt to be draped over his hard, muscled thighs, of how he moved with such grace and speed as he'd carried her almost tenderly in his embrace that night.

Loretta met his eyes when he travelled back to her face, seeing a hint of amusement in them. They were his secret weapon, able to lull his enemies into a false sense of security before he took them apart.