Chapter 2 The Contract

ZAY’s POV

Three Weeks Later…

“Steering’s heavy,” I said.

“Copy.”

“Garcia, it’s not about notes. I’m fighting this shit. Something’s wrong.” 

“We can see that, but we need more.”

“Fine,” I ground out and accelerated, working the steering wheel harder. 

Recent test runs have been turning out like this. It was high time the engineers at Pinnacle Motors gave up their dream of making a full electric race car and settled for upgrades on our existing models.

I aced the first tight corner, but on the second, the rear of the car slightly grazed the track wall. 

“Watch it, Zay. Brake pressure’s dropping,” said Garcia immediately. “Manage it for a minute or two. We still need more data.”

“I’m trying,” I hissed, razor-eyed on the track. “It just won’t turn right.”

I braked hard at the hairpin ahead and a loud screech pierced the silence. Smoke erupted.

“Control it. Control it—“ the radio died.

The car locked up and rammed straight into the track wall, flipping upside down in the air. It crashed and spun from the force, skidding down the track. My ears rang as I tried to unclasp the harness. A fire had started in the rear, yet it wouldn’t budge. I ripped off the buckles with my claws and dropped face-down on carbon shards. 

“Zay! Are you conscious?” The voices outside were muffled. 

My foot slammed into the door and I crawled out, yanking off my helmet and shoving it at Garcia’s chest.

The air smelled of burnt rubber and overheated brakes. “Get someone else to drive your shit!” I shot Pinnacle’s race engineer a glare over my shoulder.

The medics tried to seize my arm, but I brushed them off. “I’m good.”

I returned to the garage. This was a massive private property in Miami, so staff had live-in quarters built underground. I took the elevator down to my flat, ripped off my race suit and soaked in my bathtub. The cold water slowed my blood pressure and my wolf’s healing ability kicked in. If a human was in that car, it would’ve been fatal. 

I closed my eyes and I was involuntarily back in that bar in New York. 

With Taylor. All my present worries, gone.

I haven’t stopped thinking about her. She was in my thoughts whenever I got behind the wheel. In my dreams. Everywhere. But when Taylor ran from me, that had bruised my very inflated ego. 

Suddenly, a knock sounded on my door.

“It’s Blaze,” the voice of my teammate and pack Beta pushed through our mental pathway.

“Enter,” I commanded.

My internal wounds had started to heal so I put on a fresh shirt and jeans and came out to my living room. To the rest of the world, Pinnacle Motor’s second driver was my rival. We worked for the same team and there could only be one winner. 

But the reality was that we were from a different dimension. 

Decades ago, I moved to the human realm with my pack and we settled in North Carolina for a few years before moving to a quiet neighborhood in Miami. That was where my love for cars began.

But earth made us age. We became mortal, and when we tried to return, we couldn’t. The portal separating our realms had sealed itself. Then, my beloved sister was murdered. 

“What’s new?”

“The Fosters have finally made a move to locate the lost heir to their dynasty.”

I stopped pouring a drink and gripped the edges of the wine cart until they splintered. I released a breath I’d been holding for twenty-five good years. My sister could finally rest in peace. 

“After all this time,” I sighed deeply and turned to him.

“It seems they’ve realized they’re not getting any younger and that the next generation of wolf hunters need to be trained,” Blaze chuckled. “But I imagine that will be difficult, considering only one of them had a child.”

“We can’t let them train him.”

“That’s the thing, Zay. I just found out Ben Foster had a girl. Not a son.”

“Then I can’t wait to kill her like I did her father,” I growled.

“You will. I tracked their flight to Manhattan last night. It’s only a matter of time before we know who she is.”

I nodded and approached him. “Don’t let her escape me this time.”

Blaze swore on his life and left my flat. I took out the piece in the front pocket of my pants that I carried everywhere. It was a reminder of the vengeance I had to deliver, the other half of the talisman Ben wore on his baby to hide its scent while he ran from me many years ago. I eventually caught up with him and tortured him for days, making him eat his flesh and eyeballs. But he had already hidden his child from me. I vowed to find that baby and now the time had come to finish what he started. 

After a while in my flat, a message from the Team Principal’s assistant popped up on my phone. Rom needed me urgently in the conference hall to conclude the contract signing with Phoenix TV. If the choice was mine, I wouldn’t give two shits about making a documentary that fans would eat up. I was a racer. My life was on the track. What more could they want from me?

I dressed up and took the elevator to the top floor. When I walked in, Rom greeted me with a concerned frown.

“Heard about the crash this morning.”

“I got lucky.” I sat down on a random chair on the right hand side of the long ass table. “You said it was urgent.”

He gestured towards the open files before an empty seat. “Oh, yes. Ms. Brooks is only using the bathroom. She’ll be here—“

The door opened. Heels clicked on the tiled ground. 

“There she is,” Rom smiled.

I raised my head and never in a million years would I have expected this moment. 

Taylor was here, dressed in a tight blouse and skirt that hugged her perfect body. My fingers flexed on the table, clenching to a fist instantly. Her chestnut brown hair was tied up in a bun, but I remembered how threading my fingers through its softness had felt. 

I imagined our kiss and almost groaned out loud.

“Ms. Brooks, meet our three-time world champion Zay Anderson.”

The shock on her face mirrored mine. She was literally frozen.

I shook her hand and brushed my finger over the inside of her palm. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hear we’re about to make something special together.” I held back a smirk.

The universe had tossed her right back in my orbit. 

We signed the contract papers while Rom was oblivious to the tension living and breathing in the air. 

“It’s a long term project that will require close proximity, so I’ll leave you two to get to know each other for a bit.” Rom stood and my foot tapped impatiently on the tiles. “Zay? Be nice.”

“Always.” I smirked, watching him walk out the door. 

The second he was out there I was on my feet, rounding the conference table without much choice. I found it hard to control myself around her.

“Stop.” Taylor got up and held out her hands, her ass pressed up against the table. “Stay away from me!”

“I did, you’re the one that came back to me.”

Her grey eyes flashed silver with annoyance and I groaned at that little pout she made. 

“What? Have you forgotten how you lied to me… sir?”

I really wanted to behave.

“It’s Zay.” I told her, crushing the gap between us in one stride. “And I beg to differ. Zay is short for Zaden.”

A few buttons of her shirt were undone and I noticed the rope hung around her neck hiding there. My eyes went lower and Taylor cleared her throat sharply, folding her arms across her chest, pushing her breasts in my face. The pendant on her rope peeked out from the pressure.

A broken talisman. 

I staggered backwards immediately, realizing my mistake. The other half of that talisman was resting in my pocket. 

I had found Ben Foster’s daughter.