Wolf Shield Investigations: Boxset

by Dee Bridgnorth

  They moved together, hips grinding, her hands against his chest. His hand slid over her back, dipping slightly lower but always moving up before he came to the curve of her full, tight ass. Teasing her. Teasing the both of them.

  She licked her lips, her eyes never leaving his, her chest brushing against him until two tight buds rubbed their way over his skin through her dress and his t-shirt. He wanted to touch them, to feel them stiffen further in his hand, under his mouth, while her fingers curled in his hair.

  No. It couldn’t be. This was as far as they’d go. This moment could only exist in this place, in this time. Between them and them alone. He knew it, no matter what his wolf thought or felt or demanded. Certain things couldn’t be.

  So he allowed himself to touch her and to be touched by her while there was still time and space for it to happen. Her pulse raced. Her eyes widened. Her breath came in sharp little gasps which sent her chest rising and falling and brushing against him over and over. They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle that could never be completed.

  But it was nice while it lasted. The dazed look in her eye, the flush of her cheeks. The scent of pure lust rising from between her legs told him she felt the same way.

  Yet when his arm loosened, she didn’t lean into him. She straightened up instead, like she knew just as well as he did how wrong this was.

  “Come on,” he called out over the music. “We’d better get out of here now before somebody else paws at you and we attract more attention. I’ll even let you drive.”

  “Gee, thanks,” she smirked. But she didn’t offer a fight. She didn’t even demand they stay out longer.

  Had he finally tamed the shrew? No. His luck wasn’t that good.

  Chapter Thirteen

  As steamy as it was outside on a night in late June, it was nothing compared to the inside of the club. Kara sighed in relief once the night air touched her overheated skin.

  Overheated thanks to him, because of him. Skin she wished he would touch again.

  What was it about him that turned her into this panting, yearning thing? She lost all control again, thanks to him.

  It didn’t hurt that he’d laid that jerk out with a single blow. Any girl would’ve melted a little at the sight of it. But then, dancing with him… God, he knew how to move.

  “Where’d you park?” he asked, coming to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Nobody would ever know he’d just defended her back there. They wouldn’t guess she’d just ground herself against him for a while either or that he’d done the same thing back. Her legs were a little shaky just thinking about it.

  “A garage one block down,” she replied, nodding in that direction. Her hearing was a little off thanks to the club’s music, so her voice was louder than it needed to be.

  He snickered. “Okay, okay. You don’t have to scream.”

  “Funny.” She rolled her eyes but couldn’t fight back a snicker of her own. “Thanks for saving my bacon back there. I can only fight off one douchebag a night, I guess.”

  “Hang on.” He stopped again, holding an arm in front of her so she’d stop, too. “Somebody else attacked you?”

  “I wouldn’t call what happened on the dance floor an attack,” she sighed. “But he was the second creep I met tonight. The first one tried to drug me.”

  “Are you serious?” he barked, tendons standing out on his neck.

  “Now you’re the one screaming.” She slipped a hand into her purse and pulled out his phone. “Don’t worry. I took this from him and threatened to call his mom and everybody else he’s ever known if he ever tries anything like that again. I even told him I’d have agents following him around for the rest of his life if I felt like it.”

  His eyelids fluttered like he didn’t believe it. “You’re kidding,” he finally managed to grin. “You said that? Did you tell him who you are?”

  “No, but it didn’t seem to matter whether I could back my threats up or not.” She looked down at the phone, turning it around in her hand. “In fact, hang on a sec.”

  Punching in the code, she opened it and went through his contacts again. When she landed on Mom, she started a call.

  “You’re not,” Jace muttered as they continued walking down the block.

  “Aren’t I?” she whispered just as someone picked up on the other end.

  “Hello?” The poor woman sounded sleepy, and Kara felt guilty for a second. “Mason? Is everything okay?”

  “Ma’am? This isn’t Mason. I’m sure he’s okay right now. I took his phone from him earlier in the evening.”

  “Who is this?” Now, she sounded alert. Very much so.

  “I’m the girl your son tried to roofie tonight, at a club in Midtown.”

  “He what?” his mother practically bellowed. “Who is this? Is this a prank?”

  “I’m afraid it’s not,” Kara said, wincing. “I took his phone from him and threatened to call you if he ever tried anything like that again, but I feel like it might be better to let you know now rather than waiting for some other girl to fall for his tricks. I’m really sorry to break it to you like this. I’ve also threatened to call his place of employment and everyone else in his phone. Including his girlfriend.”

  “Gretchen?” the woman asked, and Kara’s blood just about boiled.

  “Yeah. Gretchen. Maybe you should talk to her, let her know what he’s been up to. Again, I’m sorry to break it to you like this, and I hope I haven’t ruined your night.” She hung up then. “Wow. That sucked.”

  “It would’ve sucked worse for you if you hadn’t noticed what he did.” To her surprise, he was chuckling. “I’m impressed, I can’t lie. Though I’m not impressed with you for sneaking out in the first place.”

  “I won’t be a prisoner.” She looked up at him. “I won’t. I don’t care. What’s the point of living if I have to be a prisoner in my home? What if nobody has any intention of killing me or even putting a hand on me? What if they just want to break my family down mentally? They’ve won already if that’s what they wanna do. You should’ve seen the song and dance I had to go through with my mom just to convince her it was okay to go to this charity thing tonight.”

  “And look how you repaid her for taking the chance, though she didn’t want to,” he pointed out. “You snuck away from the house and took a big risk—a risk that could’ve paid off in a terrible way. I can’t have you doing that. I can’t let you force me to kill a guy for doing that to you.”

  Not exactly the angle she would’ve imagined him taking, though she couldn’t help but wonder if he really meant it. “Would you kill somebody if they hurt me that way?” she asked, taking his arm as they crossed the busy street on their way to the garage on the other side.

  “Come on.”

  “I’m serious!”

  “You’re not,” he snickered. “You just wanna see how far you can push me.”

  “I’m dead serious, Jace. Would you actually do that?”

  “What do you honestly think?”

  “Nope. Don’t turn it around like that.” She stopped, arms folded. “Would you?”

  “What do you intend to do with my answer?” he asked. “Use it against me?”

  “No,” she laughed. “Why would I do that?”

  “Then why do you wanna know?”

  “Just so I know who I’m dealing with. I still can’t get an idea of you. I wish I could.”

  Something changed in his face. His features seemed to shift until he didn’t look like himself anymore. Just who he did look like? She couldn’t have said. It was enough to unsettle her for a second.

  But that was all it lasted. Just a second. It could’ve been a trick of the light or the drink she’d had or her fevered mind—fevered thanks to him, of course.

  “Okay. You win.” He shrugged, hands spread. “Yeah. I would. I’d kill a guy who pulled something like that. If you ended up hurt, beaten up, or raped or threatened in any way, I would kill them.”

  He held her gaze. “Are yo
u uncomfortable with that?”

  “Why do I get the feeling you expect me to be?”

  “Most people would.”

  “I’m not most people.”

  “No kidding.” He still didn’t look away. Neither did she. It was a battle of wills. Who would break eye contact first?

  It was Jace but not of his own will. Instead, he jerked away from her when somebody closed a hand around the neck of his t-shirt.

  Kara recognized him right away. The polo shirt, the blooming bruise on his chin, the split lip. The guy Jace had hit.

  He slammed Jace against one of the concrete pillars. “Son of a bitch! You think you can do that to me?” He was strong and furious—which probably only made him stronger.

  Plus, he was determined to hurt Jace. She backed away, horrified, a scream working its way up her throat and into her mouth.

  There was no time to let it loose. No need to, either. Jace had only been taken off-guard. He bounced back quickly, like being thrown against a block of concrete didn’t mean anything.

  He locked his hands around the guy’s neck, bringing his head down while jerking his knee upward. The crack of bones made her stomach clench.

  And thrilled her. What did that say about her?

  There was no time to think about it before Jace spun with the guy still in his grip and threw him against the concrete pillar once, twice. He then took him by his collar and lifted until the guy’s feet were off the floor.

  “What do you think you’re doing, tough guy?” Jace snarled in a voice that made Kara’s blood run cold. He was truly terrifying—and unless she was seeing things, the wet spot on the front of the attacker’s jeans told her he felt the same way.

  “Huh?” Jace demanded, in his face. “I can’t hear you!”

  The guy was beyond the point of reason. He couldn’t talk. He was too scared to talk. Too scared to do anything but whimper like a beaten animal.

  “If you ever—ever—come near me or this woman again, I’ll kill you. Do you understand? Huh?” he screamed, shaking the guy when he didn’t answer right away.

  “Yeah!” the guy gasped.

  “Do you doubt me?” he grunted.

  “No! Pl—please, let me go!”

  Jace dropped the guy and was sneering when he turned away. “Come on. Where’s the car?”

  Where was the car? Kara wasn’t sure where anything was anymore. Her brain, her opinion of this guy, any of it.

  And she couldn’t take her eyes off the crumpled body of a bleeding man lying on the garage floor.

  “Come on.” The hands that had just gripped the attacker and lifted him clean off his feet now took hers. “Come on, he’s not worth it.” Jace wasn’t even breathing hard, and the guy wasn’t exactly small. Not as big as Jace but not tiny.

  Yet he hadn’t broken a sweat.

  She let him lead her away, pulling her until she got her wits about her and started directing them herself. Her car was at the other end of the garage, in the back. The sound of the attacker’s labored breathing followed them the entire way.

  He wasn’t kidding.

  He had it in him to kill somebody with probably no effort. Who knew the sort of things he’d learned during his time in the service?

  “You sure you’re okay to drive?” he asked while she swayed back and forth a little, holding onto the car for balance.

  Instead of giving him a direct answer, she whispered, “Nobody in the world but me is allowed to drive this car.”

  “Okay, then,” he snickered. “Point taken.”

  “However.” Reaching into her purse, she grabbed her keys and thrust them toward him. “I’ll make an exception.”

  His hand closed over hers. “You’re shaking.”

  “Am I?”

  “You’ve never seen anything like that before, I guess.”

  “Not up close. I’ve seen guys fight but never like that.”

  “I would make a joke about you taking command of that dude in the bar, taking his phone and all, but I guess this is a different sort of thing.” He guided her around to the passenger door and opened it. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”

  “Wait.” She reached for him after sitting, taking his arm before he could walk away.

  “What’s wrong?” He crouched beside the open door, eyes darting over her face. “You okay?”

  “I—I don’t know.” She stared at him, trying to understand. Now he was gentle, quiet, kind. He could also be infuriating, disgusting, full of himself. Condescending.

  Violent. Terrifying.

  Exciting.

  “Who are you, really?” she whispered. “What’s your story? What makes you different?”

  “Who says I’m different?” He tried to play it off; it was obvious—laughing softly like it was a joke.

  “Nobody has to say. I know you are. There’s something different about you. You’re not like anybody I’ve ever known.”

  “You’re not like anybody I’ve ever known, either.” His hand rested on her bare knee, but he didn’t try to do anything else. No creeping up her leg, no stroking her skin. “And I’d like to know more about you too. I’d like to find out what makes you different.”

  “What you did back there—” She looked back, behind the car. Was he still there? Still whimpering with his broken nose and the urine stain on his jeans?

  “Is my job,” he finished. “Nothing more. He tried to attack you. He then tried to attack me. I’m only irritated with myself for not having predicted him coming after me. I guess I was distracted.”

  “Right.” And he was evading her questions, too.

  Even in the middle of being confused, overwhelmed by what she’d seen and heard, she knew evasion when she saw it. She’d been evading people her entire life—almost.

  That morning, she’d been sure there was no way she’d be able to stand having him around her.

  Now? She wouldn’t have pushed him away if he told her to. She wouldn’t have avoided him for anything.

  Not until she figured out what made him different.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I can see why you don’t let anybody else drive this thing. The slightest pressure and it jumps.” He glanced her way. “God, I’d love to take this thing out on a stretch of open road.”

  “Good luck with that,” she snickered. “I told you. Nobody drives it but me.”

  “Which is funny, seeing as how I’m the one doing it now.”

  “Yeah, well, special circumstances. It’s not every night I see a guy getting the snot beat out of him.”

  He frowned. Had he taken things too far? The way he saw it, that pig had deserved much worse. If it hadn’t been for her standing there, Jace would’ve gone further. Much further.

  Nobody attacked him without paying for it.

  But it had shaken her up. There he was, thinking he was doing her a favor by not continuing to pummel that guy’s face in.

  The worst part was the whole thing was sort of fuzzy. He hadn’t let the wolf out—he would’ve known if that was the case. Kara wouldn’t be shaken up by that.

  She’d be in shock.

  And the guy he’d beaten would be dead, no question, with his blood on Jace’s clothes, in his mouth.

  So that was out.

  The wolf had been close, though. Very. It might’ve shown itself in his voice, in his mannerisms. His strength.

  “Did I scare you?” he dared ask, staring at the road ahead of them. “Back there? You know I’d never do anything like that to you or any woman. Or anybody who didn’t deserve it.”

  “I know. That’s not… never mind.”

  “No, go on. It’s all right. I don’t have anywhere else to be right now besides in this car, with you.” With her and her delicious, tempting, wicked scent. His mouth flooded with saliva when he imagined what would’ve happened if he’d given in to the urge to kiss her.

  What would’ve exploded between them.

  That was a mistake, letting his thoughts travel in that direction.


  Not the first mistake he’d made that evening. He should’ve gotten rid of that dick and left it there. Taken her from the club—thrown over his shoulder, if need be—and escorted her home.

  The dancing was a critical error. He’d compromised his mission. His wolf was more determined than ever to have her. Take her. Mark her, bind her to him for always.

  Because now he knew how she moved, how her muscles worked together, how fluidly her body worked once she was in the throes of the music.

  And he could imagine the way she’d move beneath him. On top of him. How her firm, soft, full body would feel. How easy it would be to stir her to passion—her fiery personality, the depth of emotion, all of it.

  All for him.

  As if it wasn’t difficult enough to avoid these thoughts already. As if he wasn’t already holding onto his control by the thinnest of threads, a thread that might break at any second. He could barely keep himself from pulling the car off to the side of the road and taking her.

  Hard. Fast.

  If he wasn’t careful, she’d feel this. She’d sense it. And it would scare her too much. He’d already frightened her enough. Too much.

  He sensed that fear, but there was more than that fighting for control of her as she sat next to him. She was running full tilt, overloaded by emotion, which was why he didn’t push for her to continue, why he was content to drive in silence the entire rest of the way back to East Hampton if he needed to. Maybe that would be for the best. Maybe nothing more needed to be said.

  Why would anything be easy?

  “I didn’t mind.” It was barely a whisper, little more than a breath. She kept her face tilted away from him, looking out the passenger side window with her arms folded and her legs crossed like she was protecting herself.

  Stop looking at her legs. Do not look at her legs. Right. Like that was going to work. Like his wolf would turn his attention away just because Jace told him to.