Head Hunter

by Layla Nash

  “Then, uh, should we get up?” His arm was a dead weight across my chest. I might as well have had a tree trunk pinning me down.

  “Not yet.” Dodge grumbled and pulled me even more underneath him, trying to surround me with his body. “Sleep.”

  “When is she going to be here?”

  “Dunno.”

  I rolled my eyes and swallowed my exasperation. “You aren’t a morning person, hm?”

  “Not when someone keeps me up all night with their hollering and thrashing around.”

  I laughed, managing to smack his shoulder. “Come on, you did quite a bit of hollering, too.”

  He kissed my shoulder but put his head back down on the pillow. “Not how I remember it at all.”

  I bit my lip and adjusted how I lay under him, moving just enough that...

  His body reacted immediately, his cock hardening against my hip, though his eyes remained closed. A slow smile spread across Dodge’s face, and he sighed. “Naughty girl. Are you trying to kill me?”

  “You’re the one who’s talking a big game,” I murmured. It didn’t take much to reach down and stroke him. Dodge lifted his hips and moved to help me get access, and that low rumble started in his chest. It reminded me of purring, the wolf version of it.

  His arm tightened around me and his weight shifted until he was all the way over me, his elbows pressing into the mattress next to my shoulders. I arched an eyebrow as he finally opened his eyes. “Good morning, baby.”

  “Good morning,” he grumbled. His hips dipped and the length of his cock slid between my thighs in a delicious thrust that put just the right friction on the most sensitive spots.

  I sighed and arched my back, working my fingers into his already wild hair, and dragged his mouth down to my breasts. I’d learned he didn’t mind being told what to do or put right where I wanted him to be. He seemed to enjoy it, even, since the volume and intensity of his growls increased when I put his hand on the right spot and told him exactly how to touch my breasts. And he sure as hell enjoyed the dirty talk, narrating how much he liked what I did, how beautiful I was, how he wanted to fuck me every hour of every day for the rest of his life. He offered no critique, no suggestions on what to do differently. Just wild enthusiasm no matter what I did.

  I gnawed on the inside of my cheek to keep from moaning too loudly, since the rest of the house was awake. I couldn’t think too long about whether anyone else had heard us without getting shy and embarrassed, and Dodge would grumble and do his best to distract me. I drew my knees up so his hips settled closer, his cock nudging at just the right spot, and I sighed and moved to meet him.

  Dodge moved slow and easy, murmuring every dirty thought he had about me in my ear as he thrust and withdrew. Heat built between us and raced through me as he paused to rotate his hips, driving himself into every inch of my sheath, and my head fell back against the pillow. He dragged his teeth down my throat and said in a thick voice, “You offer me such a gift.”

  It didn’t make sense but I didn’t have the mental capacity to figure out what the hell he meant. Waves of ecstasy built low in my stomach and began to spread. My toes curled and I lifted to meet Dodge’s leisurely pace. Raking my nails down his sides had convinced him to go faster the night before, and it worked the same in the morning.

  We tangled together and strained to climax, managing to peak at almost the same time, though Dodge kept moving after I went limp on the bed. He liked to ride out every last bit of his climax, maybe trying to encourage more for me, and slowly lowered himself back down on me. My fingers worked into the hair at the nape of his neck, and he turned into the caress with another grumble. “Now we’re going to be late.”

  “If you weren’t so easily distractible, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

  He snorted and started to roll away. “Not my fault you can’t keep your hands off me, you greedy girl. You’ll just have to – ah, shit.”

  I blinked, since I hadn’t expected the teasing to end there, and once more tried to sit. “What?”

  Dodge ran his hands through his hair, until the dark mass stood on end and made him look more like a wildman. He stood next to the bed, still buck naked, and winced. “Forgot the condom. Babe, I’m sorry.”

  My heart stuttered, since it hadn’t even occurred to me when I pulled him on top of me, but I forced a smile. “It’s fine. I’m on the pill.”

  Well, I had been on the pill. I didn’t think it was particularly effective when you forgot to take it every couple of days. But relief washed over Dodge so strongly I didn’t have the heart to tell him the specifics.

  But I held out my hands so he could help me sit all the way up. “But that means you owe me a ride to the shower.”

  Dodge scooped me up without hesitation, his hands wandering freely, and he whispered in my ear, “I could definitely use a ride in the shower.”

  “There isn’t time for that,” I said, laughing. The man was out of control.

  “I’ll be quick,” he murmured, and his fingers teased my ass and the backs of my thighs. “Besides, we still gotta get clean.”

  By the time we stood under the stream of hot water and steam made the air thick and close around us, I lost whatever resolve I might have had to resist his murmured recitation of all the ways I turned him on. It also helped that I knew, without a doubt, he’d stop short if I told him to, and I didn’t mind being convinced. The odds of getting pregnant from just the two times without a condom were tiny anyway.

  So we stayed in the shower until the water ran cold, and soaped each other up a couple of times, though we kept getting distracted by rubbing loofahs all over every inch of our already-sensitive bodies.

  Dodge toweled me off and carried me out of the bathroom, apparently so I wouldn’t slip, and set me down in the middle of the room as he searched for clean clothes for me to wear. I definitely should have packed a bag before we left my apartment, though that would have been difficult to explain if Ms. Bridger’s guys saw it.

  I finally helped myself to a pair of his clean briefs, pulling them on before putting on my jeans. From the light in his eyes, Dodge found it very distracting. Putting on my bra also took a great deal of his concentration, despite that I was the one doing all the fiddling. He gave me a well-worn shirt, soft from many washings, and stared hungrily as I pulled it on. The thing went practically to my thighs, but he watched me so intensely I figured there was a specific reason he wanted me to wear it. I also borrowed a pair of socks and felt like a complete ragamuffin when we finally opened the door and headed for the stairs.

  A wolf-whistle, clapping, and general hooting greeted us from the living room. I wanted to flee back up the stairs as my whole face ignited. Dodge scowled and held me tight to his side, glaring daggers at the half dozen people who lounged about in the front of the house. Dodge muttered, “You can all fuck off,” as he half-carried me past them and into the kitchen.

  He pulled stuff out of the fridge for breakfast, shaking his head, and rattled pans around to drown out the occasional giggle from the other room.

  I wanted to hide under the table, since I could just imagine how loud we’d been all night long. “Oh my God.”

  “It’s fine,” Dodge said, and paused in his breakfast-making to squeeze me close and kiss the top of my head. “They’re assholes but it stays inside the pack. They don’t get to tease me often.”

  Stayed inside the pack? “I’m not used to living in such close quarters as an adult. Does every – pack live in a house like this?”

  He shook his head, scrambling eggs, ham, and cheese at the stove. “We have a larger building with apartments and more room, a few miles from here. This is Deirdre’s house; Evershaw moved in with her when they hooked up, and he brought a few of us with him for security.”

  “Oh.” I looked around, trying to figure out how someone as self-possessed as Deirdre felt about having her entire house invaded by a bunch of rowdy shapeshifters. I was about to ask when something brushed against my ankles, and I
jumped.

  Cricket had meandered into the kitchen and leaned against my leg, purring until it vibrated into me. I needed something to do other than stare at Dodge as he made me breakfast. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone cooked for me, and my eyes prickled as it grew a little harder to breathe. I ducked to pick up the cat and heaved him up, grunting with the effort of lifting his massive body. Dodge smirked as he glanced back. “He’s a workout, right?”

  “He’s a precious baby,” I said, nuzzling into the cat’s fur. Cricket purred louder and stretched out in my arms, eyeing the pile of ham that still sat on the counter.

  “He’s an asshole,” Dodge said. He pointed the spatula at Cricket and shook his head. “And a terrorist. He’s just using you to get to the food.”

  I rolled my eyes, enjoying the kitty snuggles, and opened my mouth to chide Dodge for being wrong. And then the cat launched out of my arms, skidded across the counter, and snatched up at least a pound of deli ham. I stared in horror as he disappeared into the living room, a sudden shout betraying he’d been spotted with his ill-gotten booty.

  “Told you,” Dodge said under his breath, though he was smiling.

  I shuffled over to stand behind him, and slowly leaned against his back, inhaling the scent of his detergent. “I’m going to blame that on you.”

  “I figured.” He reached around and patted my butt with his free hand, then pointed at one of the cupboards. “Plates, babe.”

  It felt so domestic, so normal. Like a relationship. Is that what he wanted? What he expected? Was it what I wanted?

  “Persephone?” he asked, voice quiet. His free arm snaked to once more caress my back, to hold me closer against his back. “You okay?”

  “Just tired,” I said, trying to sound like I wasn’t facing a major personal crisis. I straightened and retrieved the plates, holding them as he slid some scrambled ham and eggs, toast, and hashbrowns onto them. I laughed and tried to pull my plate away before he filled it with a small mountain of food. “Oh my God, I can’t eat all that. Stop. That’s enough.”

  He grumbled but grudgingly took some of the mess back onto his plate. Dodge fished utensils out of a drawer and tilted his head toward the living room. “We can eat at the table while the detective says what she needs to say. Then we can go back upstairs to nap.”

  And he waggled his eyebrows at me to make it clear that napping wasn’t what he had in mind.

  At least I was smiling – and still blushing – as we went into the other room. Dodge pulled out a chair for me at the table and got me set up before going over to talk to the detective and others still in the living room. There was still laughter and teasing, but it sounded good-natured enough. There wasn’t anything shameful in sleeping with him. We were both adults, we were both single, and we had a hell of a lot of fun. It didn’t matter that I’d only known him for about three days. They weren’t in a position to judge.

  But that didn’t keep my cheeks from burning as the detective strode up to the table, followed by Deirdre, Evershaw, and the guy who looked a lot like Evershaw, Todd. None of them commented on my red face, at least, though Evershaw didn’t bother to wipe away his stupid grin. Dodge sat next to me and lay his arm across the back of my chair, spreading out and also trying to pull me closer into the circle of his protection. It was oddly possessive, especially when the people at the table were all his friends.

  O’Brien, at least, remained professional. She flipped open her notebook and studied a few pages, then looked up at the other people at the table. “I’ve been looking about. This sanctuary is definitely not what it seems on the surface. I can connect the financial backing to a holding company owned by a subsidiary of some other company that eventually connects to Bridger. The men who work there, particularly that Geordie fellow, are also connected to various organized crime families. There is nothing to draw them all together, but they are all spiders sitting on the same web.”

  I shivered.

  The detective looked at me directly, and the intensity of her gaze made my heart beat loud and slow in my ears. “You should probably plan to lay low for quite some time, and stay close to the pack so they can protect you. I cannot say there is a specific threat to you or enough evidence to get a warrant for someone’s arrest, but...”

  When she trailed off, my stomach sank.

  “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Deirdre said quietly. “And we all know what Bridger is capable of.”

  I gripped the edge of the table, my breakfast forgotten. What the hell did that mean?

  Chapter 28

  Dodge

  Dodge didn’t like that Persephone was uncomfortable following their morning nookie, and would have started a brawl if it would have made her feel better. He figured she just wanted to hide out for a second to regain her composure, so he dragged her into the kitchen for some space and quiet. But they had to face the crowd eventually, since the only reason they’d bothered to leave his bedroom was for her to talk to the detective. Dodge’s thoughts drifted to the long night they’d spent together, the smell of her skin, the way she’d sighed and moved against him...

  He almost missed O’Brien saying they couldn’t decisively pin the murders on Bridger or guarantee Persephone’s safety. His hackles raised immediately at the thought of the lingering threat to her. He didn’t like the tension that vibrated through her, right next to him, and the fact that she’d stopped eating. “Why don’t we just go kill them all?”

  It was an elegant solution as far as he was concerned. Bridger and her people lived by the sword, it was only fitting they died by the sword. It was a very simple calculation.

  The detective shot him a dark look. “Do not give me any reason to suspect you of premeditated murder, wolf. I’ll not hear another word of this, except to say you should all be very careful. I’m calling in assistance from one of the financial crime specialists to dig into her series of companies. We might be able to arrest her for tax irregularities or something like that. In the meantime, Percy, I strongly recommend you hunker down.”

  “But...” Persephone glanced at him and then back to the detective. “I have to work. I mean, obviously not at the sanctuary, but there are other jobs that I’ve sent sketches for, and my apartment... My whole life stops for this?”

  Dodge squeezed right where her shoulder met her neck, wanting to massage the tension out of her. “Babe, it’s just a pause. Just short-term.”

  “And if you don’t do it, your life stops permanently,” Evershaw added, rather unhelpfully as far as Dodge was concerned.

  Dodge scowled at him as Persephone sucked in a deep breath. She wasn’t from their world, she didn’t understand how serious the danger actually was. Murder and hitmen existed in a movie world kind of reality, not the reality that meant it could reach out and hurt her. He loved that innocence and bright optimism and the sweetness she had, but it terrified him to his soul that she would trust the wrong person or assume good intentions when the world was full of awfulness.

  O’Brien lay her hands flat on the table and didn’t look at the alpha. “As I said, there is no specific threat against you, Percy. There is no contract out on you, we’ve seen no indications that she’s hired anyone to deal with this particular problem. That doesn’t mean everything is fine and you can go back to your normal life. It means I recommend being overly cautious in everything you do. If you don’t want to stay with the pack, I can have you placed into protective custody, and –“

  “No,” Dodge said, shaking his head. The very thought of not knowing where Persephone was made the wolf claw his way to the surface, seeking reassurance that their mate was still theirs to protect. “It’s safer here.”

  Deirdre leaned back in her chair and arched a dark eyebrow. “It’s her choice, wolf.”

  He tensed, but knew she spoke the truth. If Persephone truly wanted to go back to her normal life and avoid any links to the supernatural, she might have been more comfortable in a safe house with a bunch of human cops. Even if he k
new they couldn’t protect her the way he could. His skin prickled and a growl started, too low for a human to hear, though Evershaw and Todd gave him hard looks.

  Persephone took a deep, somewhat shaky breath, and tried to pick up her fork. It was a testament to how freaked out she was that she dropped it twice before succeeding. “I think – I think I could stay here. But I need clothes and my laptop and things from my apartment.”

  “We’ll get them,” Dodge said. He caught her shoulder and pulled her closer so he could kiss her head. “Today. Then we stay put until this is dealt with.”

  “Dealt with,” Evershaw repeated, the glint in his eyes revealing that he shared Dodge’s conclusions about the only good solution for Bridger and her asshole friends.

  “And that’s my cue to leave,” O’Brien said. She got to her feet and the dull flash of the badge at her belt made it clear how she planned to address the situation. Everyone in the supernatural community knew she was a stickler for the law and would report whatever the fuck she wanted. She’d even threatened to arrest Smith, if the rumors were true.

  The detective walked out after saying, “I’ll be in touch as soon as we learn anything new,” and let the door close behind her without another look back.

  Todd frowned as he studied where she’d disappeared. “She is an odd duck.”

  “Understatement of the year,” Evershaw muttered. He stretched and yawned, then leaned his elbows on the table. “Now that ole law-and-order is gone, let’s get down to business.”

  Persephone went still, her fork shaking as her fingers trembled. “What does that mean?”

  “A plan to get you back to the apartment so you can retrieve your stuff,” Dodge said slowly, giving Evershaw a sideways look. The alpha might not have had any qualms about discussing hunting down Bridger and her goons and doing away with them permanently, but Persephone wasn’t ready to hear that kind of conversation. Dodge didn’t want her to ever hear that kind of conversation. The less she knew about that part of his life, the better. “That’s all.”