Reckless: A Prowl Novel

by AJ Merlin

  “Okay then,” I mumbled, unbuckling my seatbelt and getting out of the car as well.

  The ground was cold, and I wished I had something more than the t-shirt and leggings I wore. Like shoes.

  It could’ve been worse, I supposed. Following Wilder into the building, I reflected that at least it was Atlanta, which was not known for its incredibly cold weather, and at least I was a shifter.

  A little cold might be uncomfortable, but it wasn’t going to kill me.

  The warehouse was just as we’d left it, save the three enforcers that now prowled around the interior.

  One of them, the woman I recognized from before, glanced at me and raised a brow pointedly.

  The second was a man I didn’t know.

  The third, naturally, was Roman.

  When I looked at him, his eyes were already on my face. He looked me over, as if checking me for injuries, and his nostrils flared when I entered the building.

  Yep. There it was.

  He absolutely knew that I’d fucked Wilder just a little while ago.

  But…where was the jealousy on his face? The frustration? The look of anger or the quick dismissal of me?

  Roman had to know. He’d reacted like he knew. Especially when the blue of his eyes brightened and went from me to Wilder, then back to my face.

  But then a smile played on his lips, and one brow rose as if to ask, Oh yeah?

  I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. So far so good, right? He wasn’t yelling, and he wasn’t outwardly angry.

  Did that mean he was all right with what I’d done?

  “I bet you’re all wondering how we got here tonight,” Wilder announced suddenly, standing just a few inches above Michael Fairfield’s head with his hands clasped in front of him like a weird mockery of a preacher.

  “Not really,” the dark skinned woman admitted with a sigh. “Your scent’s all over him, Wilder. We don’t need much more than that.”

  “But so is hers,” the enforcer I didn’t know accused, pointing at me.

  My stomach jolted and I fixed him with a pointed look.

  “It’s not fresh,” Roman denied, doing a small circle around Michael’s body. “But you were here, weren’t you?” His eyes found mine, but it was the woman who spoke.

  “What were you doing here?”

  “I…followed him,” I admitted truthfully, shrugging my shoulders.

  “From his house, yes?” The woman went on.

  “Yeah.”

  “Which you were at…why?”

  “To check on Calli,” I replied, glad I remembered her name. “I wanted to see if she was okay, after yesterday.”

  The enforcers traded a look.

  It was Wilder who spoke. And did so theatrically. “That is just so, so thoughtful of you.” He lifted his hands towards me and a frown twitched at the side of my lips at his actions.

  “Anyway. I found her almost dead on the floor. He came in. He knocked me out, and fled.” I shrugged at the twin looks of surprise that came from both Roman and Wilder. “I don’t know-I woke up, got a bit pissed, and followed him out here.”

  “I was of course tracking both of them the bloody moment they stepped foot in the Heights,” Wilder assured the four of us. “And when she confronted him here, I worried he’d kill her.” Now his eyes were on me and flashed a warning. “So I stepped in.”

  “Doesn’t seem like there was much of a fight,” the other male enforcer grunted, kneeling down next to Michael. “No defensive wounds on him, I mean.”

  “Well of course there aren’t,” Wilder said condescendingly, turning to face the man. “I’m the fucking dire wolf, aren’t I? What kind of defensive wounds were you expecting?”

  The man stiffened, but looked away.

  “We’ve already told the representative from the Ahllerons about this,” Roman said, interrupting the heavy silence with a pointed look at his comrade.

  “Shall I expect a visit from her tonight as well?”

  “No,” the woman said, answering instead of Roman. “Seems that they knew Michael, here, and none of them are too concerned about his loss. Still…she told me to tell you-“

  “To watch myself and stop acting like I own the whole city?” Wilder finished for her.

  “Something like that.” Their gazes held, but it was the woman who looked away first, even though they were both alphas.

  So far, two out of three of the enforcers had briefly tried him, and had given up.

  Now I wanted to try too. Sure, we’d gotten really intimate in his apartment. And okay, I knew he wasn’t going to hurt me.

  But I still wanted to know what he’d do if I oh-so-subtly presented him with all the signs of another alpha flaunting his status as top dog.

  Unknowingly I’d met his eyes, my gaze holding his.

  It was step one of my little fantasy, if unintentional.

  He only watched me, not reacting with aggression or presenting me with any kind of challenge of his own.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Roman look between us.

  “If you guys are okay to take him back to the station, I’m going to take Alek home,” he announced.

  I looked at him instead, attention shifting to the enforcer. “Oh-you will? I was going to have Noah come get me.”

  “I’d planned on it,” Roman assured me. “Plus, all of your stuff is in my car.”

  It was?

  Why hadn’t Noah told me that?

  More than that-was it really so easy this time? Michael Fairfield was dead, but they were letting me just go home.

  “I’d…really appreciate it,” I admitted, linking my hands behind my back.

  “We don’t need you,” the woman promised. “You can take her home.”

  “I’m not in trouble?” I blurted out.

  The woman shook her head, but fixed me with her keen-eyed expression. “Unless the dire wolf left something out?”

  Wilder turned, fixing me with a very direct, very plain stare.

  I shook my head as Roman gestured for me to follow him.

  Roman led me out of the warehouse, and I didn’t need to look to know that Wilder was right behind me.

  When we were out in the open air again, the dire wolf stopped me with a hand on my wrist.

  “You can come back to the Heights, if you want,” he informed me. “Consider this my blanket permission.”

  “Oh? And what have I done to earn such a boon?” I teased.

  Wilder chuckled, then reached out to unexpectedly pat me on the head. “Your enforcer is looking,” he explained, not bothering to keep his voice down. “I’d hate for him to challenge me for doing something untoward.”

  Roman snorted and shook his head. “Not looking to challenge you any time, Wilder,” he said, opening the drivers side door of one of the SUVs.

  “Are you sure? I’ve never fought a coyote before. I’d like to add it to my list of accomplishments.”

  While I wasn’t sure how Wilder knew what Roman was, it was interesting to have that information for myself.

  Noah and I had been basically right. A coyote was a canine, at least, which my nose had picked up. But not quite.

  “Here.” Wilder’s phone was suddenly in front of my nose, though his tone remained indifferent. “My sister will be very upset if she doesn’t get those clothes back. Put your number in my phone so I can text you.”

  “That is the worst excuse I’ve ever heard,” I said, but did just that with a small smile on my lips. “Especially since you tore her sweatpants.”

  I wouldn’t tell him, but I felt a bit giddy at his words. This wasn’t a one time thing with him?

  He wanted to meet again?

  “She’ll be cross enough about the sweatpants,” Wilder agreed. “I’d hate to have her kill me if I lose three pieces of clothing instead of one.”

  I handed back my phone and he glanced at it before tucking it in his pocket.

  “I’m still trying to decide if my feelings are hurt or not,
” he added, before leaving.

  “Why?”

  “Because I could’ve driven you home just as easily as your enforcer, there.”

  My smile lessened slightly. I hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings. And hadn’t even considered that as a possibility.

  “It’s not that,” I promised. “I don’t want to cause you anymore trouble. You’ve helped me out tonight and…” I trailed off, not sure what to say.

  “And?” he prompted.

  “And this,” I mumbled, and surged forward to press my lips to his.

  He growled in his chest, sounding pleased at my actions as he wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me close.

  This time I nipped at his lip, my mouth curving into a grin as I pulled away.

  “And that,” I said. “I’ll see you later?” My heart pounded in my chest and I felt breathless after our short exchange.

  “Count on it,” he promised, opening the door of the SUV for me and closing it once I’d climbed in.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Here.” Roman held my phone out to me, prompting me to take it.

  “Are you mad?” I blurted out, unable to stop the words.

  What would I do if he was?

  Roman paused, hand on the gearshift. “Do I seem like it?” he asked, blue eyes finding mine.

  “Well. No. And that’s the weird part. I really thought you would be.”

  “Because of Wilder?”

  “I can’t think of another reason-“

  “Or because he lied so you wouldn’t be in the least bit of trouble? Come on. I know he wasn’t fearing for your life. And even if he was, do you know how many times he’s saved someone who was in danger?”

  “A lot? Because he’s a standup citizen?” I asked weakly.

  “Zero. Because he’s an asshole who doesn’t care about people dying.”

  Okay then.

  I fired off a text to Noah, telling him that Roman was bringing me home and leaving out my question about why he didn’t tell me Roman had my stuff and had already offered to.

  I’d save it for when I was at the apartment, in person, and he couldn’t evade my accusations.

  “I’m not mad for either reason,” Roman went on with a sigh, pulling out onto the main road and increasing the speed of the SUV.

  Unfamiliar buildings passed, and I turned in my seat to look at the dive bars, clubs, and closed businesses. “You aren’t?” I asked, able to see his profile in the darkened window.

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  He chuckled under his breath. “Because the thought of how you ended up smelling like that is not at all unappealing.”

  His words had my brain stuttering to a halt.

  “Is that you saying you’d like to watch?” I asked carefully, trying my best to keep from leaning in with interest.

  “Watch, participate, or whatever else you’d let me do.” He paused, thoughtful. “Not sure how the dire wolf feels about threesomes, though.”

  Roman turned, glancing at my face as he drove. “Any other alphas in your life? It’s none of my business, but…”

  Was there one more? Did Hades count, when I wasn’t sure if it was just his casually flirtatious nature that had me so suckered in?

  “I don’t think it’s mutual…” I admitted. “But I work with someone who I have a huge crush on. Not that he knows.” Probably.

  “Where do you work? If I take you sometime, will you point him out so I can give you my professional enforcer impressions?” Roman teased, wiggling his brows.

  I couldn’t help it. I laughed, and finally leaned in so my elbow was on the console, my chin on my hand. “I doubt you have a Prowl account. Otherwise-“

  “I have a Prowl,” Roman assured me. “Who doesn’t?”

  My grin widened. “I’m kind of swooning over Hades, now that I work there,” I admitted with a one shouldered shrug.

  Roman’s head whipped around again, his eyes slightly wide. “You work with Hades Ahlleron?” he asked, voice unexpectedly filled with interest.

  “Yeah! You know who I’m talking about, then?”

  “Well, even if I didn’t have a Prowl account, I’d obviously know him,” Roman pointed out. “He’s involved in the family business of ruling the city, after all.”

  I’d never thought about that aspect of him, past just knowing his status and last name.

  Was he really so involved with his clan’s presence? He never seemed like someone who held himself above the rest of the city to me.

  “But I do. And I subscribe to him,” Roman went on, and this time it was him sneaking a glance at me.

  Did he…think that would bother me?

  Why the hell would it, when this meant I could spend my free time imagining them in bed together as well?

  “Then we should compare notes, have study sessions, and all night watch parties,” I chuckled.

  Roman’s smile returned. “You’re…kind of something else, you know?”

  “That’s a nice way to say weird.”

  “No, that’s not at all what I mean. You’re not weird at all. Also…” he glanced at the road, then at me. “I have no idea where you live. So unless you’d like me to drive us around all night…”

  Oh. I blinked and looked around, realizing for the first time that we were nowhere close to my street.

  I gave him directions to my apartment, and by the time we had pulled up to the curb outside, I found myself wishing I had told him to drive around all night.

  “Hey,” Roman said, and I turned to face him again.

  “Yeah-?”

  He cut me off with his lips against mine, one hand raising to tangle his fingers in my hair.

  Roman’s kiss was so different from Wilder’s, but I found myself drowning in it just as easily. His touches were light, his actions sweet and tempting in direct opposition to Wilder’s fiery, tempting kisses.

  It didn’t feel like a power struggle with him.

  “Just so you know…it’s killing me that I have to get back to work,” he informed me when he pulled away, and when I opened my eyes I found that his were bright, electric blue.

  A pleasurably jolt went through me, and I leaned into him across the console.

  “Why’s that?” I murmured, unwilling to pull away or open the door and end this moment between us.

  “Because, sweet girl, there’s nothing in this world I’d rather do right now than fuck Wilder’s scent out of you.” He pulled away but I gasped and unbuckled my seatbelt so I could follow him without strangling myself.

  “You’re really going to leave me with that?” I growled heatedly, grabbing his hair and dragging him back towards me.

  “Absolutely am,” he purred, capturing my lips in another, hotter kiss.

  “That’s rude,” I informed him when we parted for air.

  “It’s so rude,” he agreed teasingly, closing the distance between our mouths again.

  Finally he pulled away, a sigh ready on his bitten-red lips. “I really do have to go.”

  “I hope the rest of your night sucks,” I informed him dryly, pushing open my door.

  “And I hope yours is filled with sweet dreams and soft pillows.” He smiled at my mocking scowl. “Good night, Alek.”

  “Good night, Romeo,” I replied, and closed the door before he could protest.

  Noah was waiting up for me when I stepped into the apartment, but whatever words he’d had for me died on his lips when I entered the room.

  “Holy fuck,” he yelped, looking away quickly. “I was going to-no. Shower. Now.”

  “You’ve come home smelling like this too!” I countered, striding past him and down the hallway with a smile.

  “Not like that.” He followed me at a distance, but didn’t come near my room. “So I uh, take it that Roman wasn’t upset about you and the dire wolf?”

  “Wilder. His name is Wilder.”

  “Of course it is.”

  “And why didn’t you tell me that Roman wanted to
bring me home?!”

  “Oh.” Noah blinked and looked away sheepishly. “It kind of slipped my mind,” he admitted. “You surprised me with…well. Your stuff. And I forgot to tell you.” I started to speak again but he held his hands up to silence me. “We can talk all you want but please shower first, Alek. I really can’t handle all of that right now.”

  After my shower, I walked out of the bathroom in a pair of my own shorts and an old t-shirt to find Noah and Miss Murple on the sofa.

  The cat mewed a hoarse greeting, though didn’t make room for me on the side of the sofa that Noah wasn’t occupying.

  I picked her up anyway, then sat down cross legged to lean against the back of the sofa.

  “Was that woman okay when you left?” I asked first, still concerned for her after finding her almost dead.

  “She was coming around. And she was starting to heal,” Noah confirmed. “She was…really grateful to you, Alek. She said you were the first person to stand up for her like that and it made her want to leave. Before you ask-I didn’t leave until after medical attention showed up for her.”

  I hadn’t expected him to leave early. I knew-and trusted-Noah implicitly.

  “Yeah. And look where that got her,” I muttered.

  But really, hadn’t it worked out in the end in its own way?

  Michael Fairfield was dead, and she was free.

  And frankly, I didn’t feel the least bit bad about his demise.

  “So the dire wolf is real? And you really hooked up with him?”

  “Wilder,” I said again.

  “And he’s not just a really big wolf shifter?” Noah asked, curiosity coloring his tone.

  I thought back to the monstrous canine in the apartment, and shook my head. “No,” I promised. “No wolf could ever look like that.”

  While Noah considered that information, I went on. “I’m at a bit of a loss,” I admitted. “Though maybe that’s not quite right.”

  My roommate watched me, waiting for me to go on while I grabbed a blanket off of the back of the sofa and covered my legs. Mrs. Murple struggled free of my grip, walking on Noah to stretch out on his hip, fed up with my inability to be still.

  “Roman is really really sweet,” I said. “And Wilder is…well I just met him. I just met both of them. But I’m not sure what they want.”