Beast of Fire -- a Demon Hunting Sexy Romance Read Online Free Page B

but to play this his way. Once she had the ring, she wouldn’t hand it over until Lucan was free. Decision made, she slid her hand into Adrian’s and sealed her deal with hell.  
    ***
    Cullen Moore, executive and primary stockholder of Moore Industries, stood at the massive expanse of ceiling-to-floor windows of his executive office that overlooked the Manhattan skyline; the lights of New York twinkled in the distance. Success surrounded him, centuries of accumulated wealth, of providing for his Werewolf pack in a world made for humans. But all that was threatened now. Centuries of living outside the Underworld–as unknown Demons except for a few myths–was now threatened. Now the pack, his pack, was about to implode from the inside out. Rebel wolves had begun to hunt humans, and he had yet to stop them.  
    “We need to deal with this firestarter, Cullen.” The voice came from behind him, from his Head of Security, Nick Nepal. Cullen inhaled and turned the ring on his finger, reassuring himself of its safe place on his hand. “It’s time to hide the ring. Protect it before it’s too late.”  
    Cullen turned sharply, finding Nick in ready position, with his legs in a v, arms crossed in front of his chest, wearing the suit and short haircut befitting someone in a Moore staff position. “We’ve had this discussion,” he stated sharply, fixing Nick in a hard stare. "The ring stays with me.”  
    Nick looked as if he might argue, but after centuries with Cullen, he knew how to gage where to push and where to back off. He detoured from the subject of the ring. “The Pack is restless. They want this hunter destroyed. When they hear he now employs a firestarter, that unrest will escalate.”  
    Cullen’s brow inched upward. “The firestarter who failed to injure even one wolf?”
    “That isn’t the point,” Nick countered, not backing down this time. “She was with the Hunter. The pack fears the Hunter.”  
    “The lone hunter you cannot seem to find one piece of information about? The one doing a better job of destroying our rebels than you seem to be?”  
    Nick bared his teeth a fraction and quickly covered them, knowing better than to cross Cullen. “He has no rules. You give me many.”
    Cullen lashed back. “Rules that have served us well for centuries.”  
    “I have supported our rules for centuries and done so honorably,” Nick stated. “But these are changing times, Cullen. Obviously, these rules no longer work, or we would not be under rapid attack.”
    “Or the rules are compromised by someone on the inside,” Cullen said in a low, lethal voice, repeating something Nick had suggested several times before. “Someone who is with the rebels.”
    Nick gave a sharp incline of his head. “Which is why you must take steps to protect your reign as Leader,” he said, not daring to bring up the ring again, but they both knew it was what he referred to.  
    Unease curled in Cullen’s stomach. He trusted Nick, and smelled nothing of lies in the air. Yet lately, Nick had been pressing this issue of hiding the ring, and it did not sit well. Something . . . a disturbing thought came to Cullen, a theory he put to the test.
    “What I need,” Cullen said, intentionally aiming to cause Nick discomfort, "is a Head of Security who can actually get results.” He firmed his voice further. “Find out who is leading these rebels and destroy them, or I will find someone who will.”
    Nick paled, taken off guard by Cullen’s attack. “You don’t mean that.”  
    Cullen’s nostrils flared, seeking the scent of unease in Nick that did not come. Where was the scent? A cold feeling swept through Cullen’s body. Surely, Nick, who had been with him since before their retreat from the Underworld, would not betray him. “I believe you’ve known me long enough to know, I say nothing I don’t mean. Deal with the rebels and deal with them now.”    
    Nick glared at Cullen, his chest rising and falling,