What This Wolf Wants

by Jennifer Dellerman

  She bit her lip, wincing when Scott’s chin caught the upside of Zan’s fist. “No.”

  “Hmmm. Looks to me like Scott checked you out behind Zan’s back, the sneaky little bastard.” Jackie shot her gaze to her grandfather’s, mildly shocked. He peered down at her. “It’s what makes him a good soldier, despite his juvenile ways. Watch this. Report!”

  Jackie nearly choked as all three men jumped to attention, legs spread, and arms at their backs.

  Zan stepped forward, the wild energy easing as he reigned in his beast. “Sir.” He shot her a simmering look before directing his eyes back at the general. Jackie took a step back and behind the older man. Not in fear from Zan but because she could feel a bubble of laughter rise in her throat. Though she had a feeling Zan couldn’t wait to strangle her the second he got her alone, realizing just how much Zan had emulated her grandfather back on the front porch of Kaylie’s home tickled her to no end.

  After Zan’s concise recounting of the past week’s events Jackie peeked over her grandpa’s shoulder and caught the disgruntled shifter’s glare. Yep. He was going to kill her. And while she should be considering running for the hills, a primitive thrill of anticipation skated up her spine.

  “I’ve got confirmation that a private chartered plane has left Denver and is scheduled to land in Richmond late this evening.”

  Jackie turned at the male voice. She’d never heard the shifter come up behind her. Then again she’d been pretty focused on Zan. Or rather, containing her amusement from him.

  “This Shider fellow?” General Chavez wanted to know.

  “Affirmative.” Jackie sized up the new shifter. While he couldn’t be considered attractive, there was something about his features that drew a woman. Maybe it was the thick blond hair that just edged the collar of his shirt, the dent in his square jaw, or simply the bad-boy attitude. The man had an air of wildness about him, not unlike Zan. She estimated the newcomer to be in his early forties, with the build of a warrior of centuries past.

  “Know him too?” Zan’s harsh whisper brushed her ear. Jackie didn’t so much as flinch, having felt the warmth of his body at her back and the unique scent of spice, sex, and forest. The tendrils of hunger grew more demanding. She felt herself lean into his heat, to ease the possessive growl that vibrated in his chest, and to please herself. The hard ridge of his erection pressed into her butt. His hands at her hips were nothing less than proprietary, shouting to everyone in the vicinity that Jackie was his.

  Territorial wolf.

  She almost wanted to smile. “No.” The deep rumbling eased but Zan didn’t move an inch. In fact he only edged closer, placing one large hand protectively over her exposed belly.

  Did he expect this new shifter to take a swipe at her?

  “Russell, this is my granddaughter, Jackie. Jackie, this is the incomparable Russel Pittman. Commander of LunaWatch.”

  Russell turned to her, taking in Zan’s dominant hold less than a second. Surprise— and was that relief?—flashed in his deep gray eyes before he presented her with an outstretched hand and a welcoming grin that morphed his features from almost cruel to almost handsome.

  “I’m pleased to finally meet you.”

  Her hand was gently enveloped. Surprised, Jackie felt nothing but genuine interest from this man. She just didn’t know if Russell knew of her from General Chavez or Zan. “You too.”

  “My wife, Marion, insisted on cooking dinner, much to my concern. She’s seven months pregnant with an independent spirit that makes me crazy at times, but I’m coping. We’ll eat,” his eyes flicked to Zan, then narrowed. “Then we’ll talk.”

  “Feider.” Her grandfather barked at Joe. “Take Jackie’s bag to the room next to mine. I’ll be staying the night.” The last statement was directed at Zan with one of his one-eyed stares.

  Zan’s lips pressed into a hard, thin line before he dipped his chin in a tight nod. Guess there wasn’t going to be any hanky-panky tonight. Not with her grandfather in the next room. Then again. Where did Zan sleep?

  Ugh. She gave a mental shake of her head. What was she thinking? She couldn’t have sex with Zan while her grandfather slept on under the same roof. While she was an independent woman living in the twenty-first century, it still seemed tacky.

  Before she could follow Russell and her grandfather, Zan snagged her hand. “We’ll be there in a minute.”

  Jackie had known this moment would come sooner or later. She was just hoping for later. Even as Zan tugged her toward a room off the foyer she glanced back at her waiting grandfather. “Give us a minute.”

  The room turned out to be an office, with several built-in shelves along one wall that was stuffed with books of all shapes and sizes. In front of a large black desk sat two leather chairs. A stone fireplace took up a good portion of another wall. Zan didn’t give her time to see much else as he whirled her around to face him. “You lied to me.”

  Jackie nearly winced at the amber edging the irises of his glowing eyes. It seemed both man and wolf were angry with her. And why not. Lying to one’s mate was akin to infidelity. It eroded trust. “I didn’t really lie. I evaded.”

  His hands were on her arms and he gave her a shake. “You flat out told me General Chavez wasn’t related to you.”

  She dropped and twisted, yanking free from his grip, smugly pleased by the brief look of annoyance in his eyes. Instead of trying to subdue her with his greater strength, he leaned back against the desk, arms crossed over his chest. Waiting.

  Jackie paced in front of the fireplace. “I told you he wasn’t blood-kin to me. And he’s not. He married my grandmother long after my father was born.”

  “And that means you didn’t lie? You don’t lie to your mate, Jackie.”

  Back to “Jackie”. Guess she wasn’t his “angel” any more. “I didn’t know you,” she snapped at him. “While the tattoo on your shoulder told me you were one of his, I didn’t know you.”

  A muscle twitched in his jaw. “And you didn’t want to know me.”

  “I knew enough to not want to go there, so yes. Soldiers, wolf soldiers, enjoy the thrill of the hunt. The rush is addictive. Soon they need more of a challenge, more danger to satisfy their beast. Before you know it, they leave behind everything, including their mates, to sate the blood hunger.” She stopped and glared at Zan. “I won’t be a part of that.”

  Zan was shaking his head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She held out her hand, palm up, when he began to advance on her. “Yeah, Zan. I do. My uncle did that. He left his mate, my aunt, alone for months on end while he went on his missions and continued to do so long after he could have retired or transferred to a less dangerous position. He had absolutely no qualms about doing it, thinking only of what he wanted and not what she needed. Then he convinced his son that the rush was beyond anything imaginable. Got him hooked on the danger. And then they both died. No matter what you might think, Zan, you are not invincible. You continue down this road, you will die.”

  “We all die, Jackie,” he said softly.

  “But most of us don’t go looking for it.”

  His mouth opened. Slammed shut. He looked away. “I met your uncle. Twice. There was something, different about him. Dark. Uncontrollable. His beast had a tighter rein on the man than the man had on the beast. Some people are just like that. Shifters, human, males, and females. The darkness takes over and they get addicted. To danger, drugs, sex.” He turned back, staring at her, hard. Eyes filled with intense emotion. “Until something slaps them in the face and they wake up.”

  Yeah, she knew her uncle had been different. Darker. Addiction had it’s own scent and while she couldn’t sense the same darkness in Zan, she knew he relished danger. “Please. I saw the way you looked at Dean and Kaylie’s. You were excited about Shider. The stupid games, the hunt, taking down prey, that’s what turns you on.”

  “You’re what turns me on. My woman. My mate. At my side. In my arms.”

&nb
sp; “Bullshit.” She hissed.

  “Oh, so now you think you know me well enough to tell me what I was thinking or how I was feeling? Who’s throwing out the bullshit now, Jackie?”

  Seething, because he was right, dammit, Jackie swiveled on her heel, presenting him with her back, and shoved her hands in her hair.

  He came up behind her, turning her gently. Two fingers lifted her chin. “I’m a dominant male shifter. I like to be in charge, to hunt, to win. You know that. You’re own alpha is like that and you don’t have a problem with him.”

  “As he’s not my mate, the point to moot.”

  He sighed, a long heavy breath that fanned her bangs. “Why can’t you get past your preconceptions and see me? I need you to see me. I’m not like your uncle. What I do, my job, doesn’t define me.”

  Her shoulders tensed. “And how can I be sure of that?’

  His thumb traced her lower lip. “Give me a chance. Give us a chance. Get to know me.”

  Her eyes wanted to shut. Damn him. He was making her melt with his touch, his words. He sounded genuine. Ready, willing, and anxious even, to make a go at a permanent relationship.

  She just didn’t know if she had it in her. Years of expectations and beliefs couldn’t be erased so easily. Years of a different kind of addiction. The irony didn’t escape her.

  She swiped her lips with her tongue. “I don’t know if I can.”

  “Try.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  After a lovely dinner Jackie spent over an hour chatting and cleaning up the kitchen, with the very pregnant and beautiful Marion. The men closed themselves off behind a heavy and solid wood door that Marion told her was once the dining room. Since the kitchen was large enough to easily accommodate a setting of twelve, the dining room had been converted into a conference room. Or war room. Depending on the topic at hand.

  Once the kitchen was spotless, Marion took Jackie on a tour of the house and showed her where Jackie’s room was. When Jackie caught Marion yawning, she coaxed the fair-haired girl to bed, explaining that she had no problems entertaining herself until her grandfather sought her out after his meeting as he’d told her to wait for him. No doubt the old man wanted some alone time. All the better to grill her.

  She wandered out onto the back patio, feeling like she was wading through pea soup, the humidity was so high, and had barely settled into a lounge chair with a glass of tea when the general found her. He eased into an adjoining chair. “So you and Sutton, eh?”

  A flush crept up her cheeks. “No. Not really.”

  “No or not really?”

  While her grandfather might move in shades of gray, it was only black and white when it came to his woman-folk. Double standards were well and alive in the Chavez family. Her father was just like him. And her younger brother. The thought made her smile. “I don’t know.”

  “Hmmm. You’re mates.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes.”

  “But you’re not sure about him.” Another statement.

  “Correct.”

  Now he reached out his hand and grasped hers. “He’s not like Rafe, Honey.” He spoke of his deceased son. “The beast he carries is strong. Very strong. But it hasn’t yet taken control of the man. He’s been fighting the darkness over the last year or so.” At Jackie’s sharp look he raised a brow. “I take it he didn’t tell you?”

  Her jaw clenched. Damn hypocritical wolf. How dare he be upset with Jackie for keeping secrets when he had his own. “No. He didn’t tell me.”

  “Ah.” He leaned back more comfortably in the chair and rested his hands on his abdomen. “Probably embarrassed. You know how male shifters get when they go year after year without finding a mate. It’s like a light begins to die in them. Some can live their whole lives without their mate just fine. Some go psychotic. I think it all depends on the strength of the beast. And the man. Like an internal war that never has a cease fire.” He sighed. “I can’t imagine it’s an easy cross to bear.”

  Sweat trickled between her breasts. Already she missed the cool, crisp mountain air, and the evening breezes that made the pine trees sway and leaves dance. She missed the scent of clean forest and scurrying animals. The summers in Virginia had always been a trying time for her. The air had felt too thick, the scents cloying.

  Her first step into Woodcliff had been nearly ten years ago on a skiing trip and she’d fallen in love. Not one to do anything on the fly, she’d visited several more times, in the summer, spring, and fall, and had decided four years ago that the charming town was for her. Soon after, she’d moved there permanently. While she had family in Virginia, her home, her life was back in a small town nestled in the mountains.

  Wrapping her arms around her middle she stared out over the backyard. Off in the distance she could just make out a tall brick wall and followed it until it disappeared behind a large copse of trees. Safety or a prison? To keep people safe you had to keep danger out. While the barrier was far enough away to not be intrusive, it was still close enough to make her feel edgy.

  “Everyone has a cross to bear, whether they know it or not. Accept it or not.” She finally answered her grandfather.

  “And the way we take on that burden defines us. Shapes us. It can strengthen us or make us bitter.” He paused. “Rafe never loved Mona. If he did, he would have never left her. And any love Mona may have felt for my son died long before he did.”

  Jackie couldn’t look at her grandfather. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

  “You shouldn’t be. I’ve seen the way Sutton looks at you.”

  She snorted. “That’s just the mating heat. Hormones.”

  A deep, raspy chuckle escaped the man. “That’s, no doubt, part of it, but great sex doesn’t make a man’s eyes flash like that when he looks at a woman. Anger, desire, possessiveness, and exasperation. Only one thing makes a man as stupid as a loon, stubborn as a mule, and as strong as steel.”

  Panic niggled, as did so many other emotions. She pressed her lips tight against the urge to ask, but curiosity finally won out. “And that is?”

  An easy smile lifted her grandfather’s lips. “Love.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Jackie sputtered. “We haven’t known each other long enough for Zan to love me.”

  “When it’s right, it’s right.” He turned to her. “And, tidbit, nature is declaring it right between you two.”

  She held herself tighter and pressed back in the chair, hiding her feelings from her grandfather, and herself. “Yeah? Well nature sure screwed up between Rafe and Mona.”

  She regretted the words as soon as they spilled from her lips. Bringing up the life and death of this man’s son to back up her own reticence was cruel. But the old man had a backbone of steel and a forgiveness that made her feel shallow in comparison. He twisted in his seat and lifted her chin with gentle fingers to face him. His blue eyes were kind and knowing when he said softly, “Nature isn’t wrong, tidbit. It’s people who screw it up.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jackie’s legs raced under her as she bounded down the side of the road, the swing of her heavy ponytail dancing madly with every step. The stitch in her side was annoying, the sweat gleaming on her dusky skin from both the run and the summer sun bothersome, and the fact that the spontaneous jog had done nothing to ease the tension in her body, was more than infuriating. While running was far from a passion of hers, both woman and wolf needed the physical catharsis to combat the raging needs of the body.

  With a glance out of the corner of her eye she evaluated her running partner’s condition. Joe Fieder had suggested a run shortly after breakfast, a meal both Zan and Scott had been absent from. It was over warm breakfast burritos that Jackie learned both men had left in the early hours of the morning to reconnoiter Shider’s whereabouts.

  It should have been a simple matter of waiting at the airport for the chartered plane Russell spoke of last night carrying Shider and his men from Denver to Richmond. Except that plane landed in Hous
ton with mechanical issues. By the time Scott hacked into the airport’s database to find out why that plane never landed at the scheduled time, the three men were gone.

  The General left after breakfast to meet up with his wife and Jackie’s parents, informing Jackie he would keep mum about the current situation as it would only upset the females and cause her father to come charging to her rescue. It was later, as Joe caught Jackie digging a groove into the carpet of her room with her continual pacing, which had prompted him to suggest the run. Needing something to occupy her time, Jackie agreed.

  While Marion and Russell had been nothing but kind, this wasn’t Jackie’s home and she certainly wasn’t comfortable alone in the place with virtual strangers. She hated the feeling of abandonment and would have voluntarily done just about anything to get out of the cage she felt she was in.

  “I still can’t believe that bastard got one on Zan.” Joe said now as they turned right at a street corner.

  The need to defend Zan rose up hard and sharp. “Well,” Jackie huffed out. “If Shider hadn’t been seen or heard from in close to two years, who’d expect him to show up in the middle of a forest high in the Rocky Mountains? Besides. Zan had other things on his mind.”

  “Distractions are deadly. It’s one of the first things we’re taught in training.”

  If she had claws she would have swiped them over the young man’s face. “It’s not like Zan was on an assignment and became distracted by the scent of bacon. Besides, where was your intelligence on the man? Your team, and others I understand, had him on a wanted list. Why didn’t anyone know where Shider was? That kind of information would have come in handy, don’t you think?”

  Joe grunted in either agreement or irritation at the team’s missed opportunity. Either way, Jackie felt vindicated on Zan’s behalf. Zan might be a strong, masculine, intelligent shifter, but he couldn’t know everything, and because of some flaw in his team’s communication and surveillance, he’d unknowingly been in danger for God knew how long. And that made her furious.