It was stealing, but stealing was what I was good at. I grabbed the keys, borrowed the convertible, and headed back into the city to meet my boss.
Chapter 17
The streets stunk of wolves. I parked four blocks over from the museum but ended up veering out of my way when the first wave of fur hit me. Ducking down behind a hedge, I surveyed the dark and empty street.
Nobody was present, but the strength of the scent suggested werewolves had been here recently. Perhaps they’d passed by repeatedly? Best guess, these were Rowan’s henchmen, patrolling the city to ensure no one else made the same faux pas I had. I wasn’t so sure the safe-passage card in my wallet would be enough to get me off the hook a second time if I was caught.
So don’t get caught. I crept toward the darkened house the hedges surrounded, intending to cut through the backyard and find a less wolfy route leading to my destination. Only problem? The residents had installed motion-activated floodlights. The sudden flare of fluorescence was blinding. I jerked, twisting my injured ankle the tiniest bit and setting off a cascade of pain.
“It’s not that bad,” I muttered as I retreated. Back to the street and away from the backyard that was now fully illuminated. It was safer to risk Rowan’s scouts than it was to set off a burglar alarm and draw in human police.
Stepping back onto the sidewalk, I ignored the prickling of skin that promised I was acting like prey at a watering hole. The streetlight’s glow wasn’t as intense as that of the security light, but it was more wide-ranging. The open street made it impossible to guard my back and my front at the same time...
A yip made me jump. Wolf, not dog. And close, somewhere between me and the museum....
I hesitated, eying the path ahead where a streetlight had burned out and plunged the street into total darkness. I was going to be late if I didn’t keep walking.
But late was better than caught. Late was better than explaining myself to Rowan when Lupe wasn’t there to bail me out a second time.
I retreated to Butch’s car and eased the vehicle back onto the street.
IT TOOK TWO TRIES TO find a wolf-free parking space. Even then, I didn’t trust that patrols wouldn’t stumble upon my trail as soon as I rounded the first corner.
So I used an old dog trick, finding a patch of fresh excrement and step-smearing awfulness across the bottom of my tennis shoes. Marina was going to turn up her nose even worse than usual when she came within nose range, but shifters sniffing at my trail would think I was just a scent-challenged human. They’d never guess I was another wolf.
By the time I reached the museum, the lights were out and the steps were empty. No wonder—it was closer to 8 than 7:30. Still, I found a shadowed spot behind a Grecian column and settled down to wait.
And wait. And wait. When I’d arrived, I was panting from evasive actions and wincing at each step on my throbbing ankle. Now, the only sensation was chill from the marble beneath my butt.
Well, part of that chill may also have emanated from the questions running through my head. Why was I hanging out in such a dangerous spot when Marina looked to be a no-show? Did I have a death wish? Or—as seemed more likely—an inability to relax into a friendly gathering complete with bonfire and s’mores?
The image of Tank twirling Harper’s marshmallow stick over flickering flames warmed me ever so slightly. Warmed me enough that I was able to tamp down my indecision and rise, stuffing cold fingers into not-quite-so-cold pockets.
Whether Marina had stood me up or I’d missed her due to tardiness, we weren’t meeting tonight. I might as well ditch my stinky shoes, return Butch’s car, and hope he hadn’t noticed it was missing.
I took a step...and my phone chirped. As if someone was close enough to see I was about to leave and, only then, chose to contact me.
“You’re being paranoid,” I muttered.
But when I looked at the screen, the text had come from an unknown number. “Something came up.”
“Marina?” I typed back, peering out at the street as best I could without raising my head and making it obvious I thought she was watching.
A couple strolled past arm-in-arm. Multiple busy cafes and restaurants boasted full views of the museum. My boss could be anywhere, or nowhere.
Meanwhile, her answer was fast but vague. “I’ll be in touch.”
I waited a solid minute, expecting further explanation. But nothing else came through after that.
Eventually, I put away my phone, stretching and turning for one more view of my surroundings. There were too many people present to tell whether one was a watcher for Marina. And the longer I hung out here, the more likely I was to run into another werewolf.
You won this round, Marina, I admitted. Still, I’d learned something in the process.
My employer was testing me and I’d passed. I’d passed...even if it was at the expense of my self esteem.
THE PRIVATE CAMPGROUND was dark by the time I rolled back up the drive. Giggles from the girls’ cabin promised that Harper was fine, but everyone else seemed to have followed Lupe’s advice and turned in early.
I did my best to park exactly where I’d found the convertible, then I debated whether to return the keys. Perhaps if I left them on the leather seat, Butch might think he’d made a mistake and forgotten to place them on his tree shelf? The chance of me sneaking into Butch’s cabin with him present seemed halfway between zero and zilch.
My ankle wasn’t the only reason I winced as I wavered between the car and Butch’s cabin. I hadn’t thought this far ahead. Wasn’t used to working around people I’d have to eat breakfast with the next morning. Or to having my sister a hundred yards away from the crime scene.
Each step now sent a spike of pain through my ankle. Each thought of Harper sent a similar spike of pain through my gut.
I shouldn’t have brought her here. I should have found another way to....
The scent of approaching fur warned me one second before a hand clamped down over my mouth.
Chapter 18
A second hand gripped my arm, hard, unyielding. I was silenced and I was caught.
But I wasn’t vanquished. Adrenaline pushed away pain and exhaustion. Raising my good foot, I prepared to slam the heel into my attacker’s kneecap. Then I crumpled as my weak ankle rejected being asked to hold my weight.
I was falling...then I wasn’t. The hand that had covered my mouth gripped my waist instead. I found myself tucked against Tank’s torso while he breathed into my ear.
“What exactly have you been up to?”
Relief made me snarky. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
But Tank wasn’t listening. Instead, he maneuvered me into the convertible so skillfully my ankle didn’t twinge once. Slipping the keys out of my hand and into the ignition, he lowered the top then tilted back my seat so he could elevate my foot.
Fingers skimmed across my ankle bone, their gentle touch devoid of any annoyance. So maybe I’d misunderstood his question? The hand over my mouth, I now realized, was intended to silence any startled emoting. Tank had prevented me from blowing my cover to the nearby werewolves.
“Relax,” he murmured, his massaging fingers backing up the suggestion. And I did. Sinking back into the seat leather, I gazed up into the sky.
The expanse was full of stars I couldn’t name, just like my body was full of equally unfamiliar sensations. Like Van Gogh’s Starry Night. All swirls of color and utter confusion, yet so engrossing I never wanted this moment to stop.
But it did. Tank’s fingers released me at the same moment his words brought me back to reality. “Your ankle isn’t worse, but it will be if you keep overdoing things.” His tone was gruff, growly. “I bought you a brace,” he continued. “Boots with ankle support. I’ll go get them. Wait here.”
I pushed my torso upright. “I have to bring Butch back his keys....”
“You’ll only confuse him.” Tank was a dark shape above me, one that should have been menacing but wasn’t.
He was just far enough away that I could have rolled sideways and evaded his offensive if he lunged for my throat.
Not that Tank had given me any reason to be afraid of him. But that was the whole point. The distance between us now was an entirely unwerewolf-like promise of personal space. So sweet I found myself leaning toward him instead of away.
I barely managed a hum of question, but that was enough to spur Tank to elaborate. “When I saw you and the convertible were both missing, I asked Butch if I could borrow his car. Take you for a ride.”
A ride. His words raised goosebumps on my arms, even though I was pretty sure he hadn’t intended the double meaning.
Then I remembered tomorrow. Breakfast with shifters who would sneer at me behind their hands. Tank’s quick thinking solved one problem, but opened up a whole ‘nother can of worms.
“Thanks,” I said, not really meaning it.
And Tank must have understood my tone because he shook his head, something I felt more than saw as a breeze caressed my cheekbone. “Butch keeps his own confidence.” A pause, then: “Will you wait here? Three minutes.”
What could I do but say yes?
I WAS LOST IN THE STARS by the time Tank returned. Was imagining pulling out the markers I rarely had time to play with and creating a night landscape from thousands of colored dots. Like Seurat if he’d discovered astronomy, pointillism turned to feeling instead of science....
I should have jumped when the door squeaked open and a werewolf slid into the seat beside me. Instead, I turned to face Tank, breathing in his proximity like a hit of pure oxygen.
“Do you want to tell me where you went tonight?” he asked.
Ah, there went all the oxygen. My lungs seized up. I shook my head rather than reply.
“Hey.” His finger skimmed across my cheek, disappearing as quickly as it had made contact. “It was only a question. No wrong answers.”
That wasn’t how male werewolves acted. But Tank was more than a male werewolf. He was so close now that his heat lit me on fire, strumming my nerve endings into a sensitized alert.
As of that moment, I could have given Clara a definitive answer to her question about my sexuality. Men. I was definitely attracted to men...or at least, to this specific man.
“I’m going to kiss you now.”
Tank’s words were a deep breath, almost inaudible. But I felt them all the way down to my toes.
After that, he waited. One, two, three seconds. Giving me time to say no or just to wriggle sideways. When I didn’t, his hands thudded down on the seat back on either side of me. His broad chest blocked every one of the stars.
I should have felt caged. Instead, I arched up to meet him.
And, for half a second, I fell into paradise. Lost in the cascade of sensation as if I’d caught a ride on a falling star and plummeted through the atmosphere....
Searing heat. Overwhelming desire. I couldn’t quite manage to breathe.
Then I remembered where I was. Who I was with. A werewolf. Someone who would be in my life for five days only.
The deadline struck me like a bucket of ice water. So much like my father, the man I’d seen once. I couldn’t even remember the deadbeat’s voice.
Tank must have been less lost in the moment than I was, because he responded the instant my brain started churning. Pulling back, he took the starbursts with him as he retreated.
“What went wrong?”
“Nothing. You did nothing wrong.”
Tank’s head, I noted, was twisted away from me for the first time since I’d asked him to cut out that behavior. It felt like pushing through molasses, but I reached out to bring his chin back front and center. “This has nothing to do with your face.”
“What then? Talk to me.”
A faintly stubbled cheek sank into my palm, as if I wasn’t the only one finding space between us inconceivable. Maybe that’s why I said it. “I know nothing about you.”
“I’ll text over my CV.”
His phone was in his hand, and I couldn’t help myself. I laughed at him. “You’re a geek.”
“Geek. Lawyer. Medic. What else do you want to know?”
Each syllable raised a rumble of desire. But there were so many questions in my stomach, most of which couldn’t be summed up with words.
Instead, I started with something easy. “Why did you join the Samhain Shifters?”
“Do you want the reason I gave on my application or the real reason?”
“Real reason.”
“Part of it’s simple. You’ve met Kira. There are dozens in our pack just like her—smart, kind, strong. I can’t risk losing them to the fae.”
I nodded. “But that’s not your only purpose.” After all, he’d said there was a reason that wouldn’t have fit on his application. I was sure Lupe would love the idea of hiring someone as loyal to his pack as Tank was.
In response, he inhaled deeply. Jaw muscles bunched beneath my fingers. Then he told me:
“I’ve lived in the same pack all of my life. I’m related to most of them. Anyone I’m not related to, I’ve considered already.”
The word pack made me twitch. But that was Tank’s life, not mine. I focused instead on what he was saying. “Considered for what?”
I only realized my hand was still on Tank’s cheek when the words vibrated through my fingers. “Considered for the role of mate.”
Chapter 19
Mate. The word was worse than pack. I jerked away as if I’d been burned, thrusting my hand under my thigh so it wouldn’t be tempted to reach back out to him. “You think you can choose a mate in five days.”
A simple matter for male werewolves. After all, they considered their mates little better than chattel. Keep the home. Churn out babies. Do everything her partner and alpha demanded.
When Rowan had insinuated his interest in me, he hadn’t mentioned the M word. But he’d made it clear where my duties would lie. I was endlessly grateful my mother hadn’t gotten caught up in the werewolf world of misogyny. Even saddling us with Nick was better than that.
Tank kept talking as if he hadn’t just proven he was no better than the other werewolves I’d had the misfortune of knowing. “The timeline was fourteen days when this gig started. And, yes. I think I can choose a mate in that time.”
I’d been such an idiot thinking Tank was different. I shook my head as I fumbled in the darkness for the ankle brace he’d slipped onto the console between us. “Thanks for covering for me,” I said, giving up on the brace and pushing my door open. Maybe Tank wouldn’t notice my lapse in the darkness. Maybe he wouldn’t use his gift as an excuse to come after me....
I wasn’t so lucky. Air followed as I tried to retreat. A dark shape loomed, not quite far enough away for me to slide past him. “You’re angry.”
He was right. I was furious. “Angry that you’re willing to kiss any female wolf who isn’t related to you? Angry that I happened to stumble in front of your lips? No. Why would that make me angry?”
My throat was tight, my words more heated than I’d meant them to be.
“Athena.” His hand hovered a millimeter away from my arm. As if he wanted to grab me but was forcing himself not to. “Hear me out. Please.”
The please did it. Or perhaps the fact that he could easily have used his superior size and strength to force the issue but didn’t. I swallowed cold air, tamping down anger. Nodded and waited while he searched for words.
“I don’t think ‘mate’ means the same thing to you that it means to me,” he said finally.
Doing everything I could to look away from his magnetic presence, I focused on the sky behind his head. The view was breathtaking, or more like breath giving. As my chest expanded, the darkness of my anger was pricked by endless points of perfect light.
Calmed by the beauty of the cosmos, I managed a question. “What does ‘mate’ mean to you then?”
His answer came fast, as if he’d thought it through at length. “A mate is an equal life partner. Som
eone to stand back-to-back with in the face of adversity. And, yes, there would be sex.”
My traitorous body clenched in certain very specific places. Tank’s words were as seductive as his kiss had been.
But I wasn’t looking for a mate. I wasn’t looking for anything other than two more years of good money to get Harper through boarding school. I’d found the cash. Now I just needed to hold the line.
I shook my head. “Look....”
Then Tank’s hands were on my shoulders, pushing me behind him. I nearly tripped. Managed to stay upright. Inhaled the overwhelming scent of a wolf riled and aggressive and nothing like Tank.
BY THE TIME I CAUGHT my balance and turned around, they’d faced off. Two huge males, darkened to anonymity by lack of moonlight. Both had fists clenched. Both were leaning into the other’s personal space.
“Ryder.” Tank’s voice sounded like a wolf with ruff raised. “What are you doing here?”
Ryder didn’t answer. Instead, he smiled, ready to fight.
I paced along the perimeter of their sight line, ready to throw myself between them at the first hint of danger. After all, I’d seen this sort of posturing far too many times during my childhood from a stepfather who tended to be a mean drunk.
Tank wasn’t mean, but I wasn’t so sure he was thinking straight either. Our conversation had been intense, and to have it interrupted by another male would set off any werewolf. For some reason, I wasn’t willing to let that happen now.
Ryder, in contrast, thought the whole thing was funny. He shook his head, voice syncopated with the faintest hint of a chuckle. “Tank, Tank, Tank. Your wooing skills are rusty. Allow me to show you how it’s done.”
For a big man, Ryder moved fast. One second, he was four feet away from me, feet pointing toward Tank’s feet. The next second, I was bent backwards over his arm while he whispered in my ear.
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