Protector Wolf

by Linda O. Johnston

  Ryan nodded at Piers, who took a card out of his pocket. Fortunately, as part of their cover, they’d gotten phony identification for just this kind of situation.

  He noticed Georgia motion to someone behind a nearby table. A man approached, tall and thin, with a wary expression on his face.

  “John, these people are with US Fish and Wildlife, and with WHaM.” She turned back toward Ryan and said, “I’ve got to get busy now, but I wanted to introduce you to my husband.”

  “Good to meet you,” John said. “Sorry I don’t have time to talk to you, but welcome to Griddle Junction.” He reached his wife’s side and they walked away together quickly.

  “So what was that about?” Maya asked immediately.

  “I think you can guess,” Ryan responded.

  “Something else we’ll talk about some other time?” Her tone was sweet, her expression irritated.

  “You got it. Now, are you in the mood for breakfast food for dinner, or what do you have in mind to eat?”

  “I saw someone eating a really huge and great-looking omelet,” Piers said. “That’s what I’m getting.”

  “I need to look at the menu,” Maya said. “I might go for an omelet, too. And I assume you’ll at least consider the steak.” She smiled and batted her eyes at Ryan.

  “I’ll consider it,” he confirmed.

  *

  Dinner was over. Maya had enjoyed her omelet.

  She’d enjoyed the company even more. But now they were walking back to the hotel. There was no indication they were going to do anything when they arrived except to all head for their beds.

  She didn’t want that. She wanted to chat with Ryan. He’d already said he had things to talk to her about, too.

  Why not tonight?

  They reached the door to the lobby. They’d taken their time somewhat to make sure Rocky was able to accomplish all the sniffing and relieving himself that he wanted, and now the dog seemed quite happy to come inside.

  Maya was, too—maybe. “I’m not really tired,” she said to her two male companions as they entered. “And we discussed the possibility of talking about some of the stuff that’s going on around here. Why not here and now?”

  She anticipated Ryan’s reaction. He’d only talk to her when he felt comfortable no one else would be able to listen in.

  Then, as she’d said, why not here and now? The hotel lobby was empty except for the senior guy at the registration desk. He most likely wouldn’t be able to hear what they said as long as they kept their voices low.

  “Not here,” Ryan said. “But just a minute.”

  He motioned for Piers to join him off to the side of the empty room. Maya didn’t know what they were talking about but she had an idea. She approached the guy at the registration desk and asked some questions. Then she hurried back across the lobby to where the men stood. Apparently their quick conversation was over since they both just looked at her.

  “Okay,” Ryan said as she reached them. “Here’s what we can do. Piers will take Rocky to his room to bed, but you and I will go for a ride to talk.”

  “Sure,” she said, her mood lightening. She’d been concerned they would just tell her they were tired and no one really wanted to talk to her, after all. “Or, we can go to my room.” She told them she’d seen the people on either side of her leave with luggage earlier, and she’d just confirmed that they had checked out—and that no one else had checked in. “No one’ll be close enough to hear anything if we talk there.”

  “So we’ve got two good possibilities.” Ryan’s smile looked relieved. Good! He must really be serious about wanting to tell her…something. What? She already knew what he was.

  Still…

  “So which will it be?” Maya asked.

  “Let’s look at your room first,” Ryan said, “and if all seems as quiet and private as you indicated, it’ll be fine not to run around anymore tonight.”

  “Great.” Maya felt her heart rate accelerating.

  She shouldn’t feel at all excited that she might be alone with Ryan in her bedroom for an unknown length of time.

  They were going there to talk, for him to tell her even more, she believed, about the kind of person he was, and how he melded into the regular world of regular people.

  If nothing else, that should be a huge turnoff. In fact, she had a sudden urge to change her mind and say they should go for a drive to talk.

  But she didn’t. And in another minute Piers and Rocky were heading down the hall toward their room…and Maya was leading Ryan up the stairs toward hers.

  Chapter 19

  She’d invited him into her room—to talk, Ryan reminded himself. She had confirmed that the nearest rooms were unoccupied, and as they reached her doorway and she opened the door with her key, he listened carefully.

  Sure, he’d have felt even more comfortable that no one was around if he’d been in his wolfen form listening with his superior sense of hearing. But his hearing in human form wasn’t bad—and the only things he heard on this floor were a couple of television sets turned on down the hall, a conversation between a man and woman nearby but not in the closest rooms, and apparently the sound of a mother reading a book to a kid who giggled and talked about the doggy in the story.

  If he only knew what other kind of doggy stood nearby…

  But Ryan had the answer he wanted. Even so, as they entered the old but well-maintained room and Maya put her purse down on a chair near the door, he listened once more.

  Then he said, “Okay with you if I put the television on? I’ll keep the volume low but it should help drown out our conversation in the unlikely event that someone is listening.”

  Of course if that other person happened to be a shifter, too, then drowning out what they said would be unlikely. But it was better than nothing.

  “That’s fine. Sorry I don’t have anything here I can offer you to drink unless you’d like a bottle of water.”

  Like his room and Piers’s, hers had a small refrigerator.

  “No thanks. I’m fine.” He looked around. The only chair in the room was the wooden one with a woven cane seat where Maya had put her bag.

  The most inviting place for him to sit was her bed, with its attractive lacy coverlet. But…the bed?

  Heck, he was here to talk. Nothing else.

  He could tamp down the sexual attraction he felt for Maya. It was totally inappropriate. And he really did want to talk with her.

  That was all.

  He planted his denim-clad butt on the bed and patted the area near him—but not right beside him. Maya gave a silly smile that he wanted to kiss right off her face but didn’t.

  He’d need to see if she was still smiling after he’d told her what he wanted to…

  “Okay, here’s the thing,” he said, looking straight into her face. She was really beautiful, and her hazel eyes looked intense, interested—and maybe a bit turned on. But he was probably just imagining that. “Piers and I don’t actually work for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.”

  Her grin as she laughed only made her look sexier. “Tell me something I don’t know—like who you really do work for.”

  He’d already figured she was smart, and it wasn’t much of a stretch for her to determine, from the way he’d been acting, that he’d told a few lies for expediency’s sake. And for the secrets he needed to keep.

  “That’s exactly what I intend to do, but I only got permission based on securing from you a credible promise that anything I tell you will be kept utterly confidential. That you won’t repeat it, or even hint at it, to anyone else—except in the highly unlikely event that I give my consent.”

  “Whoa,” she said, still smiling. “Sounds pretty hush-hush…and important.”

  “It is. Part of the reason is national security, and you’ll see why.” He reached over and took her hands from where they’d been propping her on the bed. She remained seated there but allowed him to hold on to her hands. They were warm, and her grip, as she turned her a
rms so she could hold his hands as well, was as tight as his.

  And sexy. Very sexy.

  He continued looking at her eyes, not touching her anywhere else, and said, “So, Ms. Maya Everton, do you agree that everything we discuss tonight will be kept utterly secret by you, that I can rely on you not to disclose anything to anyone?”

  “That sounds pretty restricted and important,” she said. “And hopefully at least partly in protection of animals, not just national security?” She made the last a question, and he couldn’t help just a hint of a smile as he nodded.

  “I think you and I will make a pretty good team as things continue,” he said. “And, yes, some of what I’m about to tell you involves protection of animals. And people.”

  “And people who are also animals, like you.” She made that a statement, as if she was already reading his mind.

  “You got it. So…?”

  “Of course I promise. Do we need to do a pinkie swear to prove it?”

  “No. But as I indicated, national security is involved. If you breach your promise, there could be some pretty nasty consequences.”

  “What, you’ll have me thrown in federal prison?” Her tone sounded scornful—but her expression was troubled, as if she understood completely that what she said could in fact be true.

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said. “And if it helps you to agree, we can pinkie swear if you’d like.”

  That should at least take some of the pressure off this conversation, though it could seem to minimize its importance.

  He had a sense that she knew better.

  “All right, I swear I won’t tell anyone what you’re about to tell me, not without your approval. Pinkie swear. Okay?” She pulled her hands away from his only long enough to extend her right hand so her pinkie finger pointed toward his.

  With a laugh, he wrapped his finger around hers. “Okay,” he said. “So here it is. I happen to belong to a highly classified, totally covert military unit called Alpha Force.”

  Her eyes widened, but she didn’t pull her finger away from his. He had an urge to use it to pull her closer, but didn’t.

  “Are all members of your Alpha Force like you?” Her tone suggested awe, which only made him want to hug her even more.

  “Some are,” he said. “Piers is a member who isn’t a shifter, though. He’s my aide. The shifters all have aides and cover animals who look like them while shifted.”

  “Then Rocky’s your cover dog. I thought he looked like the way you were when I saw you in werewolf form.” She looked delighted now. “Are all your shifters wolves?”

  He started giving her more of a rundown on the shifters comprising Alpha Force, who were mostly wolves but also included other kinds of animals, as well.

  “Wow!” she said when he was done and had released her finger. “What kinds of military assignments do you get involved with? And why are you here? Is this area in danger?”

  “This was more of a hunting expedition on my part,” he said. “With the sudden influx of wolves to this area, I was given the assignment of checking whether any were shifters—both for their protection and, possibly, recruitment into Alpha Force.”

  “And you have found shifters, right? Are any of them going to join your force?”

  “Still looking into who around here might be a shifter, though I know a few for certain. So far I haven’t tried to recruit anyone, though I hope to.”

  “Wow,” she said again. “Wow, this is just so amazing. Werewolves, more like you and part of our military. Wow!” Suddenly, she launched herself along the bed toward him.

  In moments, she’d wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down onto the coverlet. Her mouth suddenly captured his.

  And he was engaged in one amazingly hot and sexy human kiss that he wanted never to end.

  *

  This wasn’t what she’d had in mind…was it?

  How could she know, even ponder that, now that she was in Ryan’s arms and he lay on top of her with his amazing, hard body, kissing her like he was? While she was kissing him back. Enjoying every moment.

  Yet a shapeshifter. Many shapeshifters. A military—

  Oh, my, he was running his hand under her shirt, reaching toward her breasts. Her bra miraculously seemed to disappear—or was it simply pushed up and out of the way by his searching fingers?

  In fact…he moved a bit and suddenly her shirt and bra were missing. Was that a special act of a shapeshifter?

  Heck, no, for she used the opportunity of his no longer keeping her in place with his body to yank off his T-shirt, as well.

  But he moved back on top of her once more, holding her more tightly so she could feel the warmth of his skin against her now-naked breasts, the hardness of his ripped muscles, as he again sought her mouth, surrounding it with his for an incredible new kiss.

  She wasn’t about to let things stop there, though. Or should she? She wasn’t exactly thinking things through with all her logic as a human being when she moved her hands around to his back, first squeezing his butt through his jeans, then reaching around to the front—still outside his pants, but, oh, how his erection grew to fill her grasp and then some.

  He moaned her name. “Maya. Do you know what you’re doing?”

  “Hell, yes,” she said. And then she stopped still. “Don’t I? I mean, can you do what…what people do when you’re in the shape of a man?”

  His laugh sounded so damned sexy she felt the moistness that had started to gather below increasing. But had he meant he couldn’t do what regular men do? Or—

  “I’m not about to take the time to give you a rundown on what could happen if we continue,” he whispered against her mouth.

  And then he pulled away.

  Maya felt lost suddenly. Well, not entirely, since this way, as he stood, she could see him—the hard muscles of his bared chest rippling as he first reached into his jeans pocket. He pulled out his wallet. What? There’d be no money involved if they—

  No. She heard the crinkling of plastic as he pulled out a condom.

  The guy wasn’t only sexy, he was considerate. And smart. But she knew that.

  She used the time to grab the remote on the nearby nightstand to turn off the TV.

  “But I damned well want to continue,” he said. “As long as you do. And what I can tell you briefly is that this’ll give the kind of protection we need to ensure that there’ll be no other result if we go on with our lovemaking.”

  “Then let’s do it.” She gasped as, smiling, he pulled his pants down till they crumpled onto the floor.

  His erection was every bit as large and thick as she’d anticipated, and it was pointing toward her.

  “Wow,” she whispered, even as she reached down to remove the rest of her own clothes and remained lying on the bed. Enticingly, she hoped.

  Must be, since in a moment, after he’d sheathed himself, he was back beside her. He reached over, first stroking her breasts once again and then reaching lower. Touching her moistness, reaching a finger inside her and pumping it slowly as if informing her what else he would be doing in a moment.

  “Please,” she whispered.

  In moments, he was on top of her. Inside her. Moving slowly at first, then more heatedly and faster and—

  She swallowed her cry, knowing he didn’t want anyone to hear them. Sure, no one was in nearby rooms, but—

  He groaned at the same time, then dropped quickly back on top of her, gently enough not to hurt her. His breathing was erratic.

  Well, so was hers.

  Neither said anything for a long moment. Then Maya heard herself say “wow” again.

  “Oh, yeah,” Ryan added. “Wow.”

  “So that’s how shapeshifters do it?” Maya asked a long moment later when her own breathing was somewhat tamed.

  “That’s how shapeshifters do it,” he confirmed, once more sort of repeating what she’d said.

  “Then shapeshifters are amazing,” Maya whispered hoarsel
y into his ear. “And I wonder. Would this shapeshifter—” she reached around and hugged him closely again “—like to stay the night?”

  His laugh was husky and sounded amused. “Yeah, this shapeshifter accepts that very welcome invitation.”

  *

  He did stay. And he had brought more condoms. Maya lost count of the number of times they made love, possibly because what they did sometimes resulted in fulfillment and sometimes just tantalized her enough to touch him even more. Taste him even more. Enjoy his tasting her…

  It didn’t all result in consummation, but it did make her feel absolutely wonderful.

  Then there were those fantastic times when they did it all…

  In between, well, she did sleep some. Snuggled up against his hot body beneath the soft sheets, feeling his flesh touch hers, his arm often around her, as he slept, too—or at least seemed to.

  She wasn’t sure how long she had slept the last time when she was awakened by Ryan’s movement beside her. She smiled and turned toward him, to find his head on the pillow, his gaze on her, his sexy lips that she had felt on her—how many times and places?—now smiling in a way that suggested satisfaction.

  Satisfaction? Not total. Not yet. Not if she could help it. And so she smiled back, and moved her hands, then her mouth, until they once more experienced the kind of sex she had only dreamed about.

  Even that drew to an end eventually. She was out of breath when he started to get out of bed after kissing her once more.

  “It’s still early,” she whispered teasingly.

  “Yeah, and that’s why I’m leaving now, so hopefully no one will know I was here. This has been one hell of a night, but I don’t want it to end with your being embarrassed about it.”

  “I won’t be,” she responded quickly. But how would she feel if the people she needed to impress, so they’d be supportive of the local wolves, knew what else she was up to?

  Probably fine…since none would know who and what Ryan really was. Right?

  Well, Piers knew. And he was part of Ryan’s strange and secret military force. What would it mean to Ryan if it got back to his commanding officers that he was having sex with a normal human female?