Giving the falcon boy a lame, half-yelled excuse, Liesel dashed off the dance floor and scoured the club for her friends, who all seemed to have vanished without a trace.
Where the hell had they gone?
She checked the women’s restroom, the two opposite-end bars in the place, she checked every table in between the bars, all while trying to maintain a slightly buzzed, low profile each time she neared a table of mountain lions. She couldn’t tell the difference between a plain ol’ lion shifter and a member of the High Desert Kings, so she just did her best to stay invisible to both.
“Shit, shit, shit,” she swore as the minutes grew longer and she was suddenly feeling more alone and vulnerable than ever. Memories of that night in Denver were starting to creep up and suddenly the faces from the night she was kidnapped began to morph into the disinterested, strange faces in front of her.
It’s not happening again. You’re safe.
She repeated it to herself over and over as she pushed for the exit and spilled out into the dirt parking lot, looking for any signs of her friends. Liesel found none, but a voice behind her drew her up short.
“Hey,” a low, very masculine voice said just as a hand grasped her shoulder. She spun and saw the falcon shifter. “Here you are. You disappeared.”
Liesel barely flicked him a glance and kept looking for a familiar face.
“Sorry,” she muttered, ignoring the fact that he’d stepped closer. “I’m looking for my friends right now.”
He gave a chuckle that made her stomach sour.
“I can be your friend, pretty girl.”
It was as if the night screeched to a halt. She leveled the tall man a gaze that could burn down a city.
“I’ve got plenty of friends,” she said, making the ice in her tone more than evident. “I appreciate the dance, now have a good night.”
She moved to leave, but his arm shot out and caught her bicep in a steel grip. She hissed at the sting in her arm.
“You don’t want to do this,” she grit through her teeth, her mind slowed slightly by the alcohol but her survival instincts on high alert. Claws began growing from her fingertips as her wolf pushed to the surface. She’d rather not shift in a parking lot and ruin her favorite halter top, but if this asshole wanted to press his luck with her, it’d be a small price to pay.
“I think I do want to do this,” he said with a smile and pulled on Liesel to bring her closer.
“Last chance,” she warned, her voice low and at a near growl.
Before Liesel could swipe at his face and take a hunk of falcon shifter home with her, a huge body slammed into the man from the left, sending him sprawling to the ground. Her wolf recognized the newcomer before she did.
Grayson.
As the falcon shifter moved to stand up, she watched as Grayson leveled him with a solid right to the jaw. The other man collapsed on the ground in a heap and Gray whirled on her, his eyes searching her face and her body for signs of injury.
“You okay?” he asked, moving closer and grasping her shoulders with his hands.
She nodded, fighting back the reality of the situation that was threatening to flood her in the form of tears.
“Where did you come from?” she asked as he led her away, toward the back of the parking lot. In the last row, hidden near a row of pine trees, she saw his truck. And Pax. And Bella, Ethan, and Fernie. Her relief was sudden and overpowering. Everyone was safe.
“We were inside gathering a little intel and we saw a few shitheads show up that would have made for a long, nasty night for you guys,” Gray explained as they continued to walk. “We got the others out as inconspicuously as possible, but you’d disappeared in the crowd. Me and Pax nearly pulled that place apart and were always a step behind you as you looked for your friends.”
“I thought they’d left without me,” she said quietly as his hand on her shoulder squeezed lightly.
“I’m glad I got there in time,” Gray muttered beside her. “Not that I didn’t trust your wolf to rip him a new one—we just don’t need the extra complications right now.”
Reunited with her friends, Liesel began to relax and listen to Gray’s story.
“They’re planning something nasty,” he said as she pulled herself into the front seat of his truck. Bella and the boys rode back to Boulder territory together and Pax had his own car, so Liesel reluctantly agreed to ride back with Gray. “That falcon shifter you made friends with is part of this plan. The mountain lions are getting allies and because they have enough money with the drugs they run, there are quite a few packs around here that’ll be onboard for the right price.”
A darkness settled in the pit of her stomach.
“I don’t understand,” she said, watching the lights go by as they drove down the highway. “All this is really complicated just for revenge. What do they get out of it all?”
Gray was quiet a moment.
“They get the county,” he said. “Me and the deputies gone? Canyon pack gone? They get the run of Calero County and make it a hot house of drugs, prostitution, and crime. The death of their buddy was just a convenient excuse.”
Liesel was busy trying to wrap her mind around it all and didn’t notice Gray’s hand come across the center console and grab her own. The jolt of heat that shot through her arm when he grasped her hand startled her and she jumped, looking at him.
“What are you doing?” she asked, trying to pull her hand back, but he wouldn’t let her.
“I’m sorry about how I handled things this morning,” he said quietly, refusing to let her go. “I’m no good at this sort of thing and you stir up things in me that I don’t know how to handle. So, I’m bound to make a few mistakes along the way.”
She frowned, despite the fact that her heartrate was racing now.
“Along what way?”
Gray brought her hand toward his mouth and Liesel thought her chest would explode from the pressure. What was he doing?
He brushed a soft kiss along her knuckles and met her eyes in the moonlight as they drove toward his lodge.
“Something tells me that Fate has a sense of humor,” he murmured, his eyes back on the road and their hands tucked against his leg. “You and I have some talking to do when we get back.”
Something told her he didn’t exactly mean talking, either.
Chapter Nine
Grayson
He’d meant to talk to her. To tell her everything he’d learned while at the Armory with Pax. He’d really meant to be patient, but by the time they were alone and parked in front of his lodge, his wolf was nearly crazy with her nearness and Gray was, for once, in total agreement with the crazy animal.
He and his wolf needed this woman. Now.
And from the way she hadn’t snatched her hand back when he held on to it, it was clear she was at least curious as to what he had planned.
The truth was, he was going off script. Gray had no idea what his plan was for once. He just knew that she was irresistible to him and he was sick of trying to convince himself that he didn’t want her.
He wanted her bad. Real, real bad.
Gray was around the truck and opening her door before she could unbuckle her seatbelt. She moved with a bit of wariness as he held his hand out to her—he could tell she wasn’t completely trusting of his intentions, but he could only show her he was serious.
“Trust me,” he said, holding his hand to her. It was a moment of truth for him and his wolf. Would she trust him for the next few steps? Would Liesel let him take the lead with her and see where these sparks between them led?
He held his breath and just below the surface, his wolf paced, snorting.
She looked from his hand, to his face, and back again and let him wait for an agonizing moment before she slid her warm palm into his and allowed Gray to pull her from the truck.
His heart soared at the contact and the trust she was placing in him as she slid down from her seat and let her body briefly slide up against his.
“I know exactly what we’re doing, Liesel,” he said and led her up the steps to the front door of his lodge. He didn’t stop until they were on the second floor and instead of letting her go to her guest room, he pulled her to the right and down the hall to his master bedroom.
She hesitated half a step when he pushed his bedroom door open and stepped across the threshold. Her eyes widened as she took in the dim room behind him. Was she second guessing herself? Was she doubting his intentions?
“Don’t overthink this, baby,” he said quietly and waited for her to take another step.
To his great relief, she did, and as soon as she was close enough, he pulled her into his arms and slanted a deep kiss across her mouth, which she immediately melted into as if it were as natural to her as breathing. And to him, it was that natural. What had he been waiting for this whole time?
He thought about the first time he’d seen Liesel Gaytan.
She’d just been brought back from Las Vegas and had gotten out of Sage’s car looking underfed and terrified. Grayson had been on Boulder territory partly because of his duty as sheriff, but also as an allied Alpha. They’d shared intel about what happened to the bears in Las Vegas, but he’d kept his eyes on the shell-shocked, yet still defiant, gorgeous woman who held the same cup of coffee in her hand for almost three hours.
He’d kept a distant watch over her the following 18 months without fully realizing what he was doing. When he knew where she was going to pick up a child from its abusers, he was always the one to run back up for her, even if Chet or Bailey were closer. When their packs were at the same function, he always found a reason to talk to the group she was standing near. When Liesel was out with her friends tearing up the county, Gray always found himself in his truck making sure they got home safe.
Without realizing it, Gray had made himself part of her life—insisting that he was making sure she was safe. But it was more than that—he’d spent the whole time slowly falling in love with the woman and falling under her spell. Her independent, fiery, take-no-shit spell.
He’d worry about how she was going to unpack all of her own feelings some other time—he knew she needed him as much as he needed her and for him, that was enough of a start. He could work with that.
The thought that Brody might not approve of this briefly crossed his mind—he knew the Boulder Alpha was incredibly protective of all his wolves on a good day, but when it came to Liesel, he was probably more like a big brother in hyper overdrive. He didn’t blame the man, either. He’d been in crazy stalker boyfriend-mode for more than a year without really realizing it either.
“I think you’ve been meant for me this whole time,” he murmured to her as he pulled her close and placed his lips chastely against her. “I was a fool for not noticing it sooner.”
It was as if those words unlocked something deep and hidden away inside her. She sparked to life and thread her hands through his hair, pushing him back until they were fully inside his bedroom so she could kick the door closed.
“Such a fool,” he breathed as he pushed her against the closed door.
Chapter Ten
Liesel
She lost all reasonable thought the moment Gray’s hands were on her body. She’d been fighting this pull to invade his space for so long—she’d gotten so good at trying to hide the fact that she knew his every movement from across a room. Hell, across a county. Liesel, the woman and the wolf were so acutely aware of every breath Grayson Anders took that it was almost painful somedays.
And now, here he was, pulling her into his room. His sanctuary that she’d heard him talk about to his sentinels over the past few weeks.
It’d been a running joke—that Gray had never brought a woman back to his lodge. Ever.
“I don’t like random people in my private space,” he had muttered at Pax’s teasings.
So, when he’d pulled her down the hallway toward his bedroom, she’d hesitated at the doorway.
Was he sure about this? Liesel knew a thing or two about the walls people put up and how sacred they were sometimes. But he’d invited her in like she’d always belonged there with him, and it’d about done her in.
And now his large, warm hands were running up and down the sides of her body and her hands were laced through his hair, pulling him toward her with everything she had. She needed him. She needed this.
The funny thing about Gray, she learned, however, was that he was a dominant Alpha through and through. And whenever she tried to hurry things along, she was met with stubbornness and pure male ego.
She’d gripped at his shirt and tried to yank it over his head, and suddenly found herself with her own wrists trapped against the wall above her own head.
“Not so fast,” he whispered into the crook of her neck before nipping at the skin with a teasing bite. “I’m in charge, baby. Don’t ever forget that.”
She bucked her hips out at him in a weak protest and it earned her another love bite on the shoulder.
Before she could react, he had her shirt up and past her hands before balling it up and tossing it on the floor, leaving her in her half-unbuttoned jeans and her black lace bra.
“Fucking beautiful,” he whispered as he lowered his head to plant warm kisses across the top of the swell of her breasts. “Fucking perfect.”
He freed one with his large hand and squeezed the soft flesh beneath his palm. He dipped his lips to take a taut nipple in his mouth and sucked back hard. She reacted with a violent arch of her back and a press of her core against the hard length of him that had her hips pinned against the wall.
With his other hand, he pulled the other breast free and assaulted the neglected nipple the same way. She couldn’t help the breathy moan that escaped.
“We need you out of these, baby,” he said as he started slipping the pants down over the curve of her ass.
Before she could second guess herself, she was naked and he was leading her to the center of his big, soft bed. Falling back against the comforter, she closed her eyes and took in his pine and leather scent as it surrounded her.
He took a moment to remove every scrap of his own clothing and when he lowered his big body down over hers, every inch of her skin flared to life at the heated contact between them. Deep inside her, her wolf yipped and growled her approval. She’d been after this since Liesel first laid eyes on this man.
Without a word, he began trailing kisses over the soft planes of her abdomen and toward the v of her thighs. He ran his thumb over her slick folds and she bucked against him.
“So wet,” he murmured before dipping his mouth to her center and lapping at her heat. “So ready for me. Such a good girl.”
He found her tight little nub in her center and assaulted it with both his tongue and his thumb while his fingers explored her warmth. It didn’t take long before she was mindless and writhing against the friction he was creating within her.
“You ready for this?” He whispered as he climbed back up her body and placed an elbow on each side of her head, caging her with his big, gorgeous body. “You ready for us?”
She smiled at that. She liked those words and hoped with everything she was that Gray meant them. She had faith that he did, but there was still a part of her that worried. He must have caught something in her expression because he leaned closer to her and took her chin in his hand, making her meet his eyes.
“There’s no one else for me but you, Liesel Gaytan,” he said emphatically. “I have every faith in the universe that you’re my true mate and I’m going to prove it to you tonight if you’ll let me.”
The words hit home like a bomb in her chest and not only did she know that he believed them to be true, but she did, too.
“Will you let me prove it to you, baby?” He pressed a kiss along her jawline and nipped gently, making it nearly impossible for her to concentrate.
“Yes, Gray,” she finally m
anaged. “Prove it to me.”
“Good girl,” he growled and hooked her legs up around his waist. Seconds later, the full length of him slid slowly into her molten core and he hissed. “Perfect, baby. So perfect.”
He was huge and Liesel wasn’t convinced it was going to work. There was no way. But after a few seconds of allowing her to adjust to his size, he slowly began to work his hips and in no time, Liesel was rocking her hips back against him, egging him on.
With one hand gripping her ass and the other beneath her head, Gray was inches from her face, his eyes locked on hers as he moved in and out of her like a man possessed. She couldn’t get enough of him, of his body on hers, of his scent mixing with hers. It was heaven. It was perfect.
“You ready, baby?” His voice was strained. He was close. So was she.
“I’m ready,” she growled and angled her head to the side, allowing him access to her neck.
His thrusts grew stronger and more frantic and just as she was pushed over the edge to a blissful surrender, she felt his canines sink into the soft spot at the juncture of her neck and shoulder.
Liesel splintered apart at the bite and the orgasm that followed had them both holding on for dear life as wave after wave overtook them and set the mating bond that he was so certain of solidly into place.
He’d been right.
Liesel had found her true mate—the one soul on the planet made just for her.
Chapter Eleven
Liesel
For all the earth-shattering truth that finding your true mate brings, and for all the earth-shattering sex that followed for the next 48 hours or so, life got back to a relative normal within a few days. Gray continued to drive Liesel to work, this time with her riding in his truck beside him, and returned to pick her up at the end of the day.
Brody and the Boulder pack had actually been receptive to the idea that Gray and Liesel were mates. They’d made Liesel promise to include Sienna and Emery in the mating ceremony planning when everything with the mountain lion shifters died down.
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