Rebecca was different from his female lieutenant friend as well. Rebecca stirred Walker’s most basic longings, the ones that wanted him to strip her clothes from her with slow hands and bury himself in her softness. He wanted to kiss every curve, wrap his mouth around the dusky areolas he’d seen twice now, and discover what she tasted like. He’d cup her neck and pull her to him for a long, burning kiss. Then he’d slide himself inside her and look into her eyes as they found the height of pleasure together.
He wanted that, but also to get to know her, and what the hell, pick out curtains with her. Walker knew damn all about choosing curtains, but she could teach him.
They were silent together, watching the night. Rebecca remained still, with the stillness only Shifters could have, but she had a presence that filled the truck’s cab, warming Walker through. The October night was growing chilly, but Walker in shirtsleeves was fine. With Rebecca by his side, he’d never be cold.
Time passed; the moon moved across the sky. Clouds began to build on the horizon, swallowing the stars on the night’s edge.
“Time we were getting back,” Walker said when the digital clock on his dashboard clicked over to midnight.
Rebecca let out a breath as she unfolded herself and opened the door. “I’ll call him in.”
“With me,” Walker said sternly.
Rebecca gave him an annoyed look, got out, and slammed the door.
Chapter Five
The night was crisp and, this far out of town, plenty dark. Refreshing. Austin had grown even since Walker had been stationed there, and the little towns between it and San Antonio had reached out to intertwine one another. In this area¸ ranchers and farmers still owned vast tracks of land, and the darkness was quiet, solid.
The metal rafters of the empty barn that housed the fight club creaked in the rising wind, wisps of dried grass skittering across the cement floor. Barrels that burned on fight club nights stood here and there, quiet and cold.
Walker had grabbed a lantern flashlight from behind his seat and also the tranq rifle, which he now loaded with a dose. Rebecca claimed she could bring Scott in with persuasion, but Walker recalled the way Scott had charged her and the truck and decided not to take the chance.
Rebecca eyed the tranq gun and gave him a frown, but both she and Ronan used tranqs on Scott when they didn’t have a choice. Walker remembered his own frustrated teenage years—his mom, who’d raised him on her own, had probably sometimes wished she’d had a tranq rifle.
He and Rebecca walked without speaking to the end of the arena and gazed out into the rolling Texas grasslands, black under the night sky. The stars stretched overhead, blocked only by the clouds that were building with swiftness. No storm yet—if that one came in, it probably would hit in the early morning.
Rebecca stood on the edge of the concrete, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted, “Scott!”
The wind carried away the name, but Walker knew Scott would hear it. He turned on the flashlight and played it around, picking out grasses, a few bushes, a vast crop of weeds, and the remains of whatever the farmer had grown out here.
No bears in sight. Scott would be able to triangulate on the light though, as well as Rebecca’s and Walker’s scents.
Walker was about to move the light to another quarter, when eyes flashed in the darkness. A brief flare, then they were gone.
The creature the eyes belonged to was huge. And silent, disappearing with ease. Walker flashed the light around but didn’t see it again.
He thought Rebecca would call out, coaxing Scott to come in. She didn’t, only stood silently, the enticing curves of her covered with shapeless sweats.
Last night, the moonlight had touched her bare breasts, rendering her nipples points of darkness, with a deeper brush of darkness between her thighs. If Walker hadn’t had a bunch of guys with rifles behind him, or assholes with shotguns running around in the dark, and the security team of the pharma company waiting for Walker to do something, the night would have ended a lot differently. Walker and Rebecca, on the ground, in the grass, to hell with tranq rifles and arrests.
Nope, he had to concede. Wouldn’t have happened. Rebecca would have laid him out and then taken off. Walker wasn’t that deluded.
The animal didn’t reappear in his flashlight’s beam. Walker turned, slicing his light another direction.
The next second, the flashlight was torn out of his hand, smacking to the concrete in a shattering of plastic.
Walker moved faster than thought, taking himself out of the way of the force that dove at him. Something large and warm barreled past, missing him by the barest inch. Walker spun in place, tranq rifle in hand, to face the fearsome bulk of a bear standing tall, eyes flashing red in the moonlight. Sparks from a Shifter Collar spun into the darkness.
This situation wasn’t the same as when Walker had faced down Rebecca last night. She’d been angry, but Walker had come to know that Rebecca was nothing but careful. She knew how far she could go before she had to back off. Even in her rage, she had a core of control.
Scott was in his Transition, and all bets were off. The black bear snarled, then hit the floor on all fours, and charged.
Scott’s Collar exploded into blue arcs, which didn’t slow him down a second. Walker whipped himself aside again, but Scott had already learned his trick and compensated.
Several hundred pounds of bear came down on him. Walker had the tranq rifle half raised when it flew out of his hand, his arm going numb from the blow. Walker fell, rolling out of the way of the swiftly striking claws.
Another bear roared and hit Scott broadside. Walker rolled and came to his feet, grabbing the tranq rifle along the way.
A gigantic ball of fur, teeth, and claws rolled around the cement floor. The Kodiak and the black bear grappled and flailed, one ripping, fighting mass. Walker gripped the rifle, but the two were so entwined he couldn’t be sure who he’d hit with the tranq. Walker supposed he could tranq both of them—if he could reload a dart fast enough. But then he’d have to haul two sleeping bears back to the pickup, and who knew what would happen if Scott woke up first.
Scott’s Collar kept shocking, but Rebecca’s never did. That meant Scott was enraged, needing to win, but Rebecca was only trying to get him under control, with no desire to hurt him.
She might have to anyway. They kept fighting, Scott’s crazed fury giving him the strength to battle a Kodiak nearly twice his size.
Finally, Rebecca broke from Scott’s hold. She brought up a massive paw, and before Scott could strike again, she smashed it down on the back of Scott’s neck. She held Scott there, as he scrabbled to get out from under, like a mother cat with an unruly kitten. Except this kitten was a thousand pounds or so of muscle, the mother stronger still.
Rebecca’s paw had foot-long, razor-sharp claws, but she never once broke Scott’s skin. Walker aimed the tranq rifle again, but Rebecca growled and gave her massive head a shake.
The sparks of Scott’s Collar started to fade. Scott struggled awhile longer, then the bear let out a little moan and went still.
Rebecca didn’t let up her hold on him—maybe she’d seen this trick before. Minutes ticked by while she waited.
After about a quarter of an hour, Scott let out another moan, and he slowly, with a crackling of bone and cartilage, changed form.
A few minutes later, he was a panting, rawboned young man splayed out on his belly, moonlight brushing his skin.
“Oh, man,” Scott said, his voice a croak. “Man.”
Walker upended the tranq rifle. Rebecca shifted back to human, more smoothly than Scott had, but taking her time, as though not wanting to frighten him. Finally, the lush woman who invaded Walker’s dreams emerged, her plump but strong arms gathering Scott to her.
“You all right?” she asked, stroking his hair.
Scott mumbled something into her neck. They sat that way, naked and holding each other, but there was nothing erotic about it. This was a mother and her cub,
a protector and the protected, no matter what shape they happened to be.
Rebecca soothed and comforted, and Walker picked up the broken pieces of his flashlight, his world just a little bit changed.
***
“Hey, Becks,” Scott said through the back window of the pickup.
They were heading toward the lights of Austin and Shiftertown, Rebecca once more in the sweats that smelled of human. She’d rip them off when she got home, toss them in the wash, and shove them at Walker in the morning.
She leaned back, exhausted from battling Scott, who’d given her a damn good fight, and then rocking him until he made it back to sanity.
Walker, the entire time, had backed her up without being told what to do. After she’d gotten Scott into a firm hold, Walker hadn’t moved, hadn’t said a word, while she’d waited to see whether Scott had been subdued or was just pretending to be.
No other human in her experience would have been as patient. Anyone else would have started babbling nervously, or gone ahead and popped Scott with the tranq. Walker had waited, as motionless as a predator, trusting Rebecca. It was a weird feeling, knowing he understood without explanation.
“What?” Rebecca asked Scott through the open window. Scott was sitting up, loose clothes on, looking no more dangerous than a young man who’d been out jogging.
“How do you know when your Transition is over?” he asked.
Walker glanced at him through the mirror then returned his gaze to the road, saying nothing. Again, he was trusting her to know how to handle the situation.
Rebecca thought about her answer, not sure what to say. Her Transition had been a long time ago, in the wild, and she’d had no Collar to battle.
“I don’t know,” she said. “You just do.”
“Hmm.” Scott was silent as traffic picked up, and the highway became a city street. “I think mine’s over,” he announced after a time.
“Might be,” Rebecca said. “Wait and see.”
“Yeah.” Scott shrugged then stopped talking.
He did seem a lot calmer as they neared Shiftertown, his color returning to normal, his twitchiness gone. But the Transition could fool you—it was a roller coaster of hormones. Moving from cub to adult was an enormous change.
Rebecca had finished her Transition certain she’d waltz right out, find a great bear Shifter to hole up with, and have half a dozen cubs, easy as that. But bear Shifters had been few and far between up in the wilderness, and Rebecca had been shy around humans.
Now stuffed into a Shiftertown, she’d grown restless, wanting to find a mate but not sure how to. Didn’t help that the few bears in this Shiftertown were in her clan, so she’d either have to go to another Texas Shiftertown—Shifters weren’t allowed to leave their state without permission—or take a Lupine or Feline as mate.
Not appealing, though she’d gone out with Sean Morrissey, the Guardian, who was a Feline, for a time. But nothing had sparked, and both of them had known it. Rebecca liked Felines and Lupines as friends, but when it came to mating, that was different. Mating was for life.
But she had to do something. Or else she’d shove Scott out of the back of the truck, make Walker pull over, and jump his bones. She needed sex, needed it bad. Walker was male, tough, strong, and damn, could his eyes melt her in a heartbeat.
Rebecca clutched the seat until she felt its fabric tear. Fortunately, Walker soon pulled into Shiftertown and back to the large, busy house she called home.
Scott swung out of the pickup and leapt up onto the porch without bothering with the steps. His energy was undimmed, and he started whistling.
Rebecca climbed out and started to follow him. Walker slammed the pickup’s door behind her, startling her to a halt.
“We need to go over the files,” he said.
Rebecca turned. “You mean tonight?”
“The sooner we start, the sooner I leave you alone. We go over the details now and begin questioning in the morning.”
The last thing Rebecca wanted was to be holed up with Walker in the Den. Alone. Way too dangerous—for her.
“Sorry,” she said, keeping her voice light. “I’m beat. See you in the morning.”
Rebecca started for the porch. She sensed Walker behind her, unmoving, watching.
“It’s not a request, Becks.” He didn’t raise his voice, didn’t command, just said it.
Rebecca swung around. He remained by the truck, arms folded, the lights from the porch and the Den’s door glistening in his buzzed blond hair and light blue eyes.
“I can’t,” she said swiftly. “I have to go out again.”
Walker got around the pickup and in front of her with a rapidness that was almost Shifter. “Not without me, you don’t.”
Rebecca forced a smile. She and Walker were nearly the same height, his eyes looking straight into hers. “You won’t want to go with me for this,” she said, putting a coy note in her voice. “I built up a lot of adrenaline out there. I either have to run until I can’t stay awake, or I find some company. Don’t worry, I won’t go anywhere near the airport. Company is more appealing tonight.”
Walker returned her gaze calmly, his eyes not flickering at her insinuation. Rebecca lifted her chin, daring him to comment, hoping he didn’t realize she was shaking.
“I can’t let you do either of those things,” Walker said. “House arrest, Rebecca. You don’t go out running without me, and you don’t get to hook up with another Shifter for the night. Sorry.”
He didn’t sound one bit sorry, damn him.
“I don’t think you understand.” Rebecca transferred her hand to her hip. When she went into sultry mode, most guys, even Shifters, got nervous. “If you don’t let me work off my craziness, there’s no telling what I’ll do to you in there.” She glanced at the Den then back at Walker. “I’m a Shifter female. We’re a lot of woman.” She let herself smile again.
Walker looked Rebecca straight in the eye—not dropping his gaze to the V of her half-unzipped sweat jacket, not to the curve of her waist. He sucked her in with a stare that took no shit from anyone.
“I’ll risk it,” Walker said, then he turned his back and strode to the Den, not bothering to check whether she followed.
Chapter Six
Rebecca wasn’t the only one who needed to work off adrenaline. Walker’s body hummed as he entered the Den, every nerve alert. He should say good night and lock himself in, but he knew damned well Rebecca would be out of there as soon as he shut the door. If she got caught outside Shiftertown without him, Walker might not be able to save her.
And he did not at all like her implication that she’d work off her stress with mindless, wild sex with a Shifter. Walker imagined that all she’d have to do would be go to Liam’s bar, lean against the counter, and give the room a look. Every unmated Shifter male in the place would be fighting to land at her feet.
Not something he wanted to think about.
He waited at the door for her to enter. Moonlight and porch light fell on Rebecca’s dark hair and glittered on the rage in her eyes.
If she took off right now, Walker would never catch her, and they both knew it. He had to hope she understood that it was important at this moment to follow the rules.
Rebecca heaved a massive sigh. Walker tried not to watch her chest lift, but the loose sweat jacket couldn’t hide her curves or the enticing way her unfettered breasts moved. She was wearing a T-shirt, but no bra. Every molecule in Walker’s body knew that.
He moved away from the door as she charged toward it. If she pushed by him in a crush of scented female body, he’d throw regulations out the window. If the Bureau wanted her under house arrest, Walker would hole up with her, flush the key, and ride out the duration.
To keep things from exploding, he walked calmly to the table and laid out the files on Nancy Greene. The fridge held plenty of beer, and he took out two bottles, setting one down in front of Rebecca as she plopped into a chair.
“All right, what do we kn
ow?” she asked, as though they hadn’t been silently fencing each other.
She scraped her hair from her face, twisted off the top of the beer bottle, and took a drink. A long one, her head going back, sweat on her throat matching the glistening condensation on the bottle. Beer commercials were full of sexy women with beer bottles, but none of them could outdo Rebecca.
“Walker?” Rebecca set the bottle on the table and peered at him, frowning.
She didn’t know, did she? How hot she was? Walker couldn’t afford to tell her. Rebecca would smile, and that would be the end of him.
He cleared his throat. “You already know that Nancy, Joanne’s sister, is a Shifter groupie. She liked to frequent Liam’s bar as well as other Shifter bars from Austin to San Antonio. Addicted to Shifters, according to Joanne.”
“Some humans are,” Rebecca said as she studied the photos of Nancy. Her statement wasn’t judgmental. Just a fact.
“Why are they?” Walker asked. “Is it the danger?”
Rebecca shrugged, which made the sweat jacket move again. “That, plus it’s frowned upon by most humans—so the lure of something forbidden. And then, Shifter males are well-endowed and have the reputation of being good in the sack.” She shot him a faint grin. “They think so, anyway. Most groupies are women, partly because there are far more unmated Shifter males than Shifter females.”
“But not all groupies are women.”
“Nope. Plenty of men will seek out the few Shifter females, or go for Shifter males—sometimes both. Shifters don’t have the same taboos about sex as humans do, so the ones who like groupies oblige. You can get a pretty wild Shifter orgy going after some of the crazier Shifter bars close for the night.”
Rebecca spoke impassively, but Walker couldn’t help wondering whether she had participated in some of these orgies. He didn’t want to picture her, naked and sweating, touching and being touched by human men and Shifter males, maybe by both at the same time.
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