Protective Instinct

by Katie Reus

  He and Teresa immediately veered to the right upon entering, heading into the living room where Rafael stood by the fireplace, his body practically vibrating with annoyance.

  That wasn’t good. Ryan tensed, looking to Connor. “What’s going on?”

  Teresa grabbed a handful of M&Ms from a bowl on one of the side tables and collapsed on the couch next to Ana. Ryan didn’t miss Teresa’s slight wince even though she tried to cover it.

  His frown deepened.

  He also didn’t miss how she sat in such a position that he couldn’t join her. Yeah, she was definitely making a statement right now. That familiar clawing inside started up again.

  Connor’s expression remained mild, but he was tense, as if expecting an argument. “Rafael is convinced—and I agree—that we need to take extra precautions after last night’s ‘accident’.”

  “Have the police found out anything?” Ryan asked. Not that it would matter if they discovered who’d come after Teresa and Rafael. If the situation warranted it, the pack had no problem handling things without the involvement of humans.

  Connor shook his head. “No and I don’t expect them to. Some kids reported seeing a male and female at the crash site, but they can’t describe a vehicle. One of the guys says the woman was tall, blonde and had some other descriptors for her sexual attractiveness according to Parker. Apparently the teenage boys were disappointed enough that the woman disappeared because they’d wanted to get a better look at her. The couple was driving in front of them and for all we know, were the cause of the accident.”

  “Or they could have just left because they didn’t care about some strangers.” Teresa popped an M&M into her mouth casually, but Ryan could see the tense lines in her body, could sense the trickle of worry rolling off her. He wanted to soothe that worry.

  Connor nodded. “All true. Regardless, with everything that’s happened in the last few months I’m not taking chances with any of my pack. You and Rafael could have been random targets or you could have been specifically targeted.”

  “Or the whole thing could have been random with no connection to the pack at all,” Teresa muttered.

  Ana snorted, clearly disagreeing, which earned her a glare from Teresa.

  “You don’t believe that.” Connor’s expression hardened, but he didn’t move from his seat. “Even if you do, I don’t care. We’re going to be proactive with this if there is a threat. And I want to know if this was target specific. You,” he said, looking at Teresa, “and Rafael will be sent somewhere—”

  Ryan took a step forward, already not liking what Connor was saying. Teresa wasn’t going anywhere without him. No way in hell. He’d fight his Alpha over it too, if it came down to it.

  His Alpha just held up a hand, ignoring Ryan as he continued. “You’ll be going somewhere with Ryan while Rafael will be sent elsewhere. I need you two separated and leaving the ranch in a semi-obvious manner. But not so obvious that it’s clear you’re trying to get tailed.”

  Relief slid through Ryan as Teresa frowned. “So you’re sending us off…where?”

  “You and Ryan will go to the cabin an hour and a half away from here. The one on the way to Winston-Salem. I’ve already got a team scouting out the place so once you arrive the cabin and surrounding area will already be under surveillance. If someone follows you, we’ll know.”

  “And we’ll find out why,” Ryan growled. He didn’t like the idea of using Teresa as bait, but he liked the idea of bringing this shit out into the open immediately, and he loved the idea of having time alone with her. Whoever had tried to hurt her would regret it.

  “We need to talk to Lucas first.” Teresa looked at Ryan as she spoke, as if seeking his agreement.

  This was one of the reasons he’d fallen so damn hard for her. She accepted Lucas as her own and had from the start. Right now she was making the cub a priority. Months ago she’d even told Ryan that if he’d brushed Lucas aside for a relationship, he wouldn’t have been the male she wanted to be with. Though her words had been a lot more colorful.

  “I figured as much,” Connor said. “Let your sisters know and obviously Lucas will stay here with us.” He looked at Ryan questioningly, even though he already knew the answer would be yes. There was no safer place on the ranch than the Alpha’s house and Lucas would jump at the chance to stay with Vivian. The two were inseparable.

  “I don’t want him to know there’s a potential threat to Teresa,” Ryan said. He would just worry.

  “Agreed.” Connor stood now, signaling the conversation was coming to a close.

  “Your sisters need to know though,” Rafael said. “Someone should be with them while we’re gone. We might not be the only targets.” He cleared his throat almost nervously, which seemed out of character for the male. “Rosa has been working in town every day. Someone needs to be with her or I’m not going anywhere.” There was a hint of defiance in the male’s voice, the kind most males only directed at their Alpha when a mate was involved.

  Something in Ryan eased when he realized Rafael was into Rosa. God, he felt like an even bigger jackass now after he’d basically accused Teresa of trying to make him jealous last night.

  Once they were outside, Teresa sighed. “Lucas is going to know something’s up no matter what we say.”

  Ryan scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah.” The kid was smart. He started to put an arm around Teresa, but she tensed. It was slight, and he wondered if she was even aware of it or if it was just a reaction because of the way things had been between them. He’d noticed that she hadn’t stayed next to him when they’d been in the main house. Again, it was small, but the past few months there had been no distance between them. She’d have been sitting in his lap or next to him in any other circumstance.

  His inner wolf clawed at him, telling him to get his shit together. He knew what he wanted and that was Teresa. Forever. Absently he rubbed a hand over the middle of his chest. He was going to be in a secluded cabin with Teresa, the only woman he’d ever wanted with such a ferocity it terrified him. He’d give anything to be with her, to claim her. He just had to get over himself.

  But if he fucked up or she wasn’t ready… He didn’t want to risk any future cubs growing up the way he had.

  Chapter 6

  “I love this place,” Teresa murmured, stretching out on the pile of soft blankets in front of the fireplace. It wasn’t warm enough to use so they’d turned on the fake fire without the heat. She liked the atmosphere, especially since they still needed to talk. She was nervous about having that conversation but it needed to be done. Now before she lost her nerve.

  Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, Ryan stretched out next to her. He rolled to his side and slid a hand over her stomach, teasing the hem of her top.

  Shifters as a whole liked touch and she was no different. But right now the feel of his big hand on her was heaven and hell intermixed. Tingles skittered over her skin, heat already building inside her. Since she doubted he’d give her the release she craved, yeah, it was more hell than anything.

  She wasn’t sure if any of their packmates could hear them since they were out on patrol in the area, but even if they could, she decided to just say what she needed to say. Ryan had been on the phone with Connor most of the ride to the cabin but now they had no excuse and she couldn’t wait any longer.

  “You want me to take our bags upstairs?” He fully moved his hand under her shirt now, palming her stomach. The question was innocuous but there was a wealth of sensuality in his voice.

  She swallowed hard. “They’ll be fine for now. Listen, I think…and don’t take this the wrong way, but I think we should sleep in separate beds tonight.”

  Ryan went impossibly still, his wolf flashing in his dark eyes. Yeah, he didn’t like that at all.

  Before he could respond—and she could see the argument in his gaze—she continued. “I think we need to set some ground rules, especially since we’re away from the ranch and it’s just the two of us right now. W
ell, sort of just us. First, while we’re here, I need some physical space. I don’t want to argue about it, but it’s easier for me. My wolf is agitated and it’s making me a little crazy. Can you deal with that?” She wasn’t pulling back from him forever, but until he figured out what he wanted, this had to be done.

  His jaw tightened but he dropped his hand. Of course he didn’t move it far, just let it fall right next to her, inches away from her side. “Teresa—”

  “Let me finish.” She rolled onto her side so that they were directly facing each other. The manufactured light of the fake fire flickered, making shadows dance around them, some over his far-too-handsome face. “Second, I know what you’ve told me but I’d like it if you’d help me understand what your real fear is.”

  He stared at her for so long, those dark eyes unreadable, that she wondered if he’d answer or if they’d come to a complete standstill. Just because they weren’t going to be intimate in the near future didn’t mean she wanted to cut off complete touch from him. No matter what, she loved him and despite the way he was holding back, she knew he loved her too.

  Reaching out, she linked her fingers through his, their hands lying between their bodies on the blankets. Hand-holding she could deal with, just not the other stuff.

  He seemed to gather strength from her or maybe she was just projecting, but he answered. “Since finding Lucas, I’ve always put him first.”

  She nodded. It was one of the things she loved about him.

  “And the fact that you love him as much as I do is, well, not unexpected.”

  His words had a soothing effect on her, easing the tension from her shoulders. She still didn’t respond though, wanting him to get all this out.

  “I don’t think you would do to future cubs what my mother did to me, but…” He sighed. “I guess you’re right, this is more about my own bullshit. I just need to be sure that you’re sure.”

  The fact that he didn’t already know sliced her up more than just a tiny bit, but she nodded and tried to cover the hurt welling inside her. But it pushed up with the intensity of a geyser. “You should already know,” she snapped, deciding not to bother hiding her emotions. Screw that. She let his hand drop.

  He reached for her. “Teresa, I—”

  She moved lightning fast, jumping to her feet. “I’m not having this discussion with you again. I just can’t. You know how I feel and I’m not going to sit around and convince you of it. Now, let’s get our bags put up and see what they’ve stocked in the kitchen. I’m starved.” Oh God, her voice sounded overly bright and ridiculous. Smiling was just as much of a strain and since he was an empath she knew she wasn’t fooling him. So, she let her smile fade. She wasn’t even going to bother right now.

  He reacted just as quick. For such a big male, he moved with an incredible fluidity. She’d thought it from the first moment they’d met. From the first argument they’d had when his pack had integrated with hers. It had been over something silly, something to do with organizing one of the stables. He’d been big, obnoxious and so damn sexy.

  His dark eyes flashed with something, she wasn’t sure what, but the sound of the front door swinging open made them both pause for a moment.

  Ryan spun, blocking Teresa with his body before she could even react. She scented Erin though so peeked her head around Ryan’s body.

  Erin stood in the entryway of the living room, the dim light from the foyer behind her illuminating her red hair. Her expression was grim as she looked at the two of them. “Someone, maybe more than one person, is in the woods. I don’t know if they followed you guys but I sense their power. It’s dull, maybe because they’re too far away, but I wanted to let you know. We’re going to scout—”

  “I’m going too.” Ryan stepped forward, his long legs eating up the distance between him and Erin.

  Teresa’s lips pulled into a thin line as she followed after him. She sure as hell wasn’t being left behind. “Me too.”

  Ryan’s head whipped around to look at her as she approached. She could tell he planned to argue so she looked at Erin. The enforcer’s hair was pulled back into a tight braid and she had two blades strapped across her chest. Unlike most of their kind, Erin preferred to fight in her human form. It was part of why she was an enforcer.

  “If for some reason I’m a target and someone did follow us here, it’ll be stupid for me to hole up in this cabin like bait.” She’d be safer with Erin and Ryan or one of the others. It was always safer to work as a team.

  Ryan’s mouth opened, no doubt to argue, but Erin nodded. “I agree. We don’t have a visual on anyone but the power I sensed was from the west.”

  From the road.

  Before either of them could respond, Erin continued. “So you two are going to head deeper into the woods in an easterly direction. Put some distance between here and the cabin. We’ll see if someone makes a play for it.”

  Teresa knew that wasn’t the kind of help Ryan had planned on, but he nodded. Teresa did the same. She wasn’t part of the warrior class and trusted her packmates to do what they’d come to do.

  “Got your earpieces?” she asked.

  Nodding, Teresa reached into her pants pocket at the same time Ryan grunted a yes. As their resident computer guru, Ryan was always in charge of anything technology related. For their last investigation into vamp blood dealing, he’d gotten the pack small communicators. Even though they all had supernatural hearing, if they were separated by enough distance, it would be impossible for a backup team to hear them if they needed help.

  Teresa and Ryan headed out the back door as Erin went out the way she’d come. They both activated their earpieces as they glanced around the tree line of the woods beyond. A near-full moon and too many stars to count were high in the sky, illuminating everything and painting a postcard-perfect image.

  The one good thing about this was that they didn’t have to talk right now. Intellectually Teresa completely understood Ryan’s hesitancy to bond now that he’d put it out there that this was about him and not her. But in her heart, it didn’t matter. All her heart and wolf knew was that he thought she could be remotely like the woman who’d raised him.

  That cut deep.

  “Fuck, Teresa,” Ryan muttered as they breached the tree line.

  He must have sensed her emotional distress. “Don’t. It’s not fair that you can sense my emotions. Now’s not the time anyway.” They needed to be quiet, something he knew.

  “Uh, yeah, and we can all freaking hear you,” Aiden said over the comm.

  Hearing him made her smile, which seemed to annoy Ryan further. But whatever. Aiden had thought his vampire mate was dead but recently discovered that not to be the case. When their bonding link had clicked back into place Aiden hadn’t let anyone or anything stand in the way of claiming his female. She wished Ryan would do the same.

  Teresa turned away from Ryan, scanning the thickening trees as much for recon as because she didn’t want to look at his gorgeous profile. Or into his eyes. Her heart ached too much and there was no bad guy, no one to blame.

  It was just the situation. Somehow that made it worse, not being able to take out her frustration on anyone.

  * * *

  Frida paused next to a giant oak tree, resting her hand against it as she surveyed the woods. She and John had split up and while she was dressed as a hiker, she knew that no one from the shifter pack would believe she’d just gotten lost out in the woods.

  She was a vampire, something they would know immediately if they scented her. And vamps didn’t tend to do things like go hiking. Though if she did, it would make sense that it was at night. A pathetic excuse, but one she would use if necessary.

  She couldn’t see anyone, but the vehicle that Natalia’s sister had been in had turned off on a side road about a mile back. One of her human contacts had seen the female, Teresa, and another male leaving the ranch. They’d gone into Fontana and stopped at a coffee shop. After getting drinks and a bag of what she guessed was p
astries of some sort, they’d headed out of town. She and John had started following them about forty-five minutes into their trip, letting their human contact stop his tracking.

  So if the couple had been worried they were being followed, they should have relaxed, let their guard down.

  Unfortunately she didn’t think that was the case. Something was off. She couldn’t put her finger on it… There were no noises, she suddenly realized. Not even the crickets were chirping.

  Nothing.

  It could be because of her presence, but… No, there was someone or something else out there. Taking a deep, quiet breath, she inhaled scents while simultaneously listening for anything that was off.

  But still nothing. Which meant all the forest animals were being quiet because there was a bigger predator lurking in the woods. Maybe more than one.

  The back of her neck tingled, her internal radar telling her to make tracks. On silent feet she backtracked the way she’d come, using her vampiric speed to flee through the woods until she reached the main highway. Once she was sure it was clear she crossed over to the other side and moved deep into those woods.

  Now she would just wait for John to return. She was strong as any vampire but she wasn’t a warrior and she didn’t want to take the chance that there were more of the sisters’ packmates with Teresa. And Frida had scented more than one shifter. Since she didn’t know the layout of where the female had gone, too much could happen if she tried to follow. She refused to fail in this.

  While she was disappointed not to be able to go after the sister tonight, she would show patience. She was basically immortal and no matter how long it took, all those bitches were going to pay for taking her lover, her maker.

  Her everything.

  Chapter 7

  Connor groaned as Ana nibbled along his jawline, her fingers sliding up under his shirt. Today had been long and the cubs were finally asleep. He’d been counting down the time until he and Ana finally got some alone time.