Pack Enforcer (Were Chronicles Book 2)

by Crissy Smith

  Lamont nodded. “Thank you.”

  Tony shrugged. “Maybe I can do a little more research into fated mates while I’m there. The book you gave me was pretty vague on what we can expect.”

  “I’ll make sure that Cain keeps you updated as well. I don’t know how much the Council is aware of the attacks, but any information you can learn will help.”

  “Of course,” Tony agreed.

  “I’ll let you know what the other Alphas say at breakfast.”

  “Okay,” Tony said. “I’m going to head to bed then. I’ll call Babcock after we talk in the morning.”

  Chapter Nine

  Emily was wrapped around him, her head cushioned on his shoulder and her hand resting on his chest, one long, slim leg thrown between his, as she slept peacefully.

  He should also be asleep but he couldn’t seem to stop staring at her. If he needed further proof that she was different from any of his other lovers, he realized that he’d never actually slept all night with a woman before. He hadn’t even thought about not remaining in bed with her. Cain wanted to be with Emily every minute he could. Before, he’d been panicked after sex and had left as soon as he’d been able. He hadn’t meant to be an ass to the women he slept with but he also hadn’t wanted any attachments. For the first time, he wasn’t feeling the need to run. Instead, now, he felt proud and protective. For the first time in years, the wolf inside him was so sated and tranquil that he was tempted to shift just to make sure he was still himself. Oh, he knew he was just being irrational, but how this girl had changed him was astounding. Cain was in love, with Emily, and she loved him back.

  He stroked a hand down her arm to her waist. She probably needed her rest, but just watching her had him desperate to take her again. Cain leaned down and ran his tongue over the shell of her ear.

  His cell phone rang and he froze like he’d been caught doing something wrong. He shook his head at his own silliness. As he strained to reach his pants, which were still hanging off the side, Emily rolled over before rubbing her face against his chest while moaning. They hadn’t gotten much sleep and after the stress of the day she had to be as tired as he was.

  It was six in the morning, she really wasn’t a morning person in normal circumstance, and she’d been dealing with a lot. A soft whimper escaped her next. It was cute and another reminder that he would have to make sure he didn’t disturb her in the future when he received late-night calls. It happened often. Something wrong with one of the guards, suspicious activity that never seemed to come to anything, or a question about the next day’s schedule.

  In the past, he’d accepted that it was his responsibility to be available twenty-four-seven, but maybe he needed to train one of the others to help him out.

  He hated that he had to roll her off him since he couldn’t actually reach the phone. Luckily, the stupid thing stopped making noise so when he pulled the covers over her shoulders and kissed her cheek she didn’t stir again.

  Cain climbed out of the bed, grabbing his jeans at the same time before he strolled out of the room.

  His cell began ringing once again.

  He took his cell phone out of his pocket and saw his dad’s office number. He stiffened. Why would his father be calling him so early when he had to know Cain was with Emily?

  His stomach clenched but he answered his father’s call. “Hello?” he said quietly.

  “Good morning, son,” Lamont greeted.

  “Morning,” Cain replied. “What’s up? Not that I mind the call but it’s pretty early and I didn’t get much sleep.”

  “I know,” Lamont said. “And I’m sorry about that but I need you to pack a bag.”

  His breath caught. Was his dad kicking him out of the Pack? He’d known he’d messed up royally with Emily the day before but after she’d forgiven him he hadn’t even thought about the punishment that would come from his Alpha. “Sir?”

  “Stop thinking whatever you have in that brain of yours!” Lamont snapped.

  The sharp biting tone was enough to snap Cain from his panic. “Sorry.”

  “We’ll deal with your situation with Emily after you return from Colorado,” Lamont told him.

  “I just got back from there,” Cain complained. He did not want to leave Emily. No, he couldn’t.

  “I wish I didn’t have to ask you. I’m working on some things on my end that Tony is helping me with but there has been a meeting called because of another attack,” Lamont explained. “You have to be there and represent us.”

  “How many attacks does this make now?” Cain asked. He dropped down onto the couch. “This is stupid. We have to stop him!”

  “Yes,” Lamont said. “This call couldn’t have come at a worse time for you but, Cain, I need you to go.”

  “There’s more, isn’t there?”

  Lamont was quiet for a moment. “The girl didn’t make it. She died.”

  “Oh God!” Cain gasped. The attacks were bad enough, but having killed a female? Fuck, he wanted to get his hands on this guy. His right hand ached and he realized that he was clenching his fist so hard that it was turning white.

  “I wouldn’t ask you to leave if it wasn’t of the utmost importance. I know you don’t want to be separated from Emily, especially now, but she’ll be safest when this shifter is caught.”

  “I understand. I will go,” Cain promised. “Emily will understand.”

  “That’s what I thought too,” Lamont agreed. “She is just as concerned about the attacks and she is going to make a great mate for you.”

  “We need to talk to you about that,” Cain told him. Actually, first he needed to get Emily to tell him when she wanted the ceremony to take place. They had a lot of things to decide before they could move forward. She was still in school and he had a very stressful and demanding job. A position that he couldn’t, and wouldn’t, ever give up. But he could learn to put Emily before work, couldn’t he?

  “Cain, are you even listening to me?” Lamont demanded.

  Fuck! If he didn’t get his thoughts where they needed to be, another woman was going to be attacked or even killed. “Sorry.”

  “Just come up to the main house so I can fill you in. Adam is already on his way here and you need to leave in a couple of hours,” Lamont said.

  “On my way,” Cain said before disconnecting the call. He dropped the cell onto the cushions before burying his face in his hands. Fingers gripped his shoulders.

  “Shit!” He almost knocked Emily back when he jumped, not expecting her touch. “Sorry, sorry.” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her onto his lap. “You okay.”

  “Yeah, there was another attack?” she asked him.

  “Yes, and a meeting has been set up for all of us in Colorado. I have to go, Emily.”

  “I know.”

  “Emily.” He held her hand tight. “I want…” He shook his head. He couldn’t give her orders. “I know it didn’t work out too well last time I left, but could you please stay in the main house? In my room again.”

  She nodded. “Of course. I liked sleeping in your bed. When you’re not with me at least I can smell you on the sheets.”

  “And not just while I’m gone. When I get back we could move you over to stay?” He rubbed his thumb on her wrist. He felt her pulse quicken.

  She smiled at him. “Are you sure? That’s a big step.”

  He leaned over and kissed her. “Isn’t this where we’ve been headed? Whether we mate officially or not, we’re already bonded.”

  “I know, but we still have things we need to discuss,” she said.

  “You’re right,” he agreed. “I want it all with you. You are my future and no matter what obstacles we face, we’ll work things out. Moving you into my room will allow us to be together the way I need. It’ll ease my mind so I can concentrate on tracking down this fucker who is hurting people.”

  “I want him stopped,” Emily said. “I also need you to come back to me in one piece. You might be used to going on dangerous jobs for
the Pack but this isn’t easy on me. If something happened to you…”

  “It won’t,” he promised. He caught her chin in his hand. “I’m good at what I do. I have help and people I trust at my back. But you’re in danger here. The attacks have moved onto other Pack territory. We’ve been lucky but I won’t take a chance with your safety. I’ll trust you to make sure you stay safe, and you can trust me to get this done and return to you.”

  “A partnership,” she said.

  “Yes,” he agreed. “The two of us are stronger together.”

  “You’re right,” she said. “I’ll pack a bag. I already have some stuff in your room.”

  “Bring it all,” he told her.

  “But I don’t need all my stuff now. I can come back and get what I need,” she told him. “You need to get to the main house and talk to Lamont.”

  He shook his head. “You’re not returning alone. We’ll take all your stuff with you so that you don’t have to leave.”

  She sighed. “I’ll bring Tony with me.”

  It was illogical, but he wanted to see her stuff mixed in with his before he left. He wanted that reminder that she would be there when he returned. “It will make me feel better if I knew you have everything you need.”

  She looked at him suspiciously. “Cain, you’re not thinking about doing something stupid like locking me inside the main house, are you?”

  “If I thought I could get away with it, I would.” He grinned. “That’s just me being honest. It wouldn’t work. You’d probably tear off my balls, but it doesn’t change the fact that every instinct I have is screaming at me to do just that. This is where our trust for each other will come in.”

  “You better help me pack then,” she said, starting to stand.

  Cain tightened the arm around her waist. “Give me a kiss first.”

  She raised an eyebrow before leaning forward and placing a chaste kiss on his cheek.

  He laughed. “Oh come on!”

  “No way!” She squirmed out of his hold. “Your dad will already know what we were doing since you haven’t showered. We’re not having a quickie on the couch.”

  “Fine.” He gave her the best pout he could manage.

  “Yeah.” She wrinkled her nose at him. “Don’t do that. You look like Toby.”

  Cain launched up off the couch and grabbed her around the waist then tossed her up over his shoulder.

  “Damn it, Cain!” she squealed, smacking him on his back. “We really don’t have time for this.”

  Of course she was right. Who’d’ve thought he’d be being the irresponsible one? He strolled down the hall before reaching the bedroom. He almost groaned, seeing the bed mussed from their earlier activities. He set her on her feet just inside the room then dropped his mouth over hers and gave her a hot kiss.

  She was panting when he pulled back. Cain winked before he slapped her ass. “Now pack.”

  “You’re an evil man,” she accused.

  “So true,” he agreed. He forced himself to walk away before he tumbled her back onto the soft mattress and claimed her again. Lamont wouldn’t wait long and Cain did need to shower, pack and get something to eat before he got on the road with Adam. “I’ll grab your bathroom stuff if you’ll get your clothes and stuff in here.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  Cain sauntered away, his steps lighter than they should be. It would be a hard trip back to Colorado. As much as he wanted to celebrate his bonding with Emily, he had to remember that others were suffering.

  As he gathered up Emily’s toiletries into her cosmetic bags, he had to wonder what the shifter responsible for the awful violence against females would be doing. Adam and Cain were certain at least that it was a male, had to be on the road constantly the way that he traveled around and showed up in different states. Was he alone or was there more than one person involved? Why or how was he choosing his victims?

  There were so many questions, and Cain didn’t even know where to begin to get the answers.

  Normally Cain’s job was to track down a guilty shifter and take him to the closest Pack or Council representative to face judgment. He almost always knew who he was tracking and why. This time he had no clue what to expect from his prey.

  And this asshole was Cain’s prey. Cain might have promised Adam first crack at him but Cain would stay close and make certain the shifter was punished harshly.

  Once he had everything bagged up that he thought Emily would need from her bathroom, he took the items onto the bed and dropped them on top of the clothes Emily had stuffed into her duffle.

  “Cain?” Emily said his name quietly.

  He could hear the way her heart began to beat faster, and if he wasn’t mistaken he could smell her scent begin to lace with worry. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “What’s going to happen when I go back to school?” she asked.

  Damn, he had been dreading this question. Since his first instinct was to tell her that she wasn’t going back, he slung the bag over his shoulder, then turned on his heel and stalked out of the room. “Let’s go.”

  “Cain, I only have one semester to go. I need to finish school.”

  He continued to the door. Why had she brought this up now? They’d been getting along so well and he was about to leave. He didn’t want to fight with her and he knew that any conversation on this subject would result in just that. They wanted, no, needed, two different things when it came to her education.

  “We need to talk about this.” She followed him through the house and out of the front door.

  He didn’t speak until he locked her door behind them, relieved his hands weren’t shaking. Cain took a deep breath. “We do need to talk about it. It’s one of the things we have to work out. But I don’t have an answer for you right now.” He wanted her to finish school and knew it was important to her. But that meant they would be separated from each other. He honestly didn’t know if he or his wolf could handle it.

  “I shouldn’t have brought it up right now.” She sounded so upset that he couldn’t stand it. He dropped her bag before he pulled her into his arms.

  “Why did you?” That wasn’t what he’d meant to ask! Shit, he knew he had made a huge mistake when she stiffened and pushed him back.

  “Because it was on my mind and we’d just talked about trust and being in a partnership,” she told him.

  “Okay,” he said. “I can understand that.”

  She rolled her shoulders, relaxing a bit. “Well?”

  “I don’t know,” he answered. “I can’t give you an answer to that question right now and I wish I could, but what we decide will change things for us.”

  “So… I’m just supposed to sit back and wait for you to decide?” She huffed out a breath. “No.”

  “No?” he repeated, not really sure how to respond. “What?”

  “I’m going back to school,” she told him. “That is non-negotiable. Now that’s out of the way, we need to figure out how I can do that and still be with you. We do need to have a mating ceremony as well.”

  “Mating…” How in the hell had he lost control of the entire conversation?

  “I’d like some time to plan it, but with the semester ending soon, I’ll be off for a few months. That would be the perfect time to bond officially and maybe we can even get away together,” she said. Emily was pacing the front porch as she spoke. “Of course we’ll have to—”

  “Hold on!” He didn’t mean to shout but he wasn’t even sure what they were talking about anymore. “Slow down,” he requested, much more calmly.

  “Oh!” she laughed. “I was just thinking out loud. I don’t mean to overwhelm you.”

  “I…” Cain glanced toward the Alpha house before peering back at her.

  “Grab my bag,” she told him.

  With no reason not to, Cain bent down and picked up her duffle. She slipped her hand into his free one before tugging him down the steps. He felt much better once they were headed in the direction of the
main house. Like he’d somehow have more of an idea how the woman he loved had gone from angry to nervous and then excited within a few minutes’ time.

  “I’m going to ask you some questions and all I want from you at this moment is to answer with a yes or no,” she said as they walked.

  “Okay,” he agreed. Maybe if he kept his answers simple he could avoid upsetting her.

  “Just yes or no,” she repeated. “We’ll work everything else out.”

  Hadn’t he said the same thing earlier? That they’d work stuff out? Wow, this woman had him wrapped up in her spell. If there was any way to avoid this conversation he would. He had the feeling that his answers were going to be very, very important. “Go ahead with your questions.”

  “Do you want to officially mate with me?”

  “Of course!” he said in surprise. He’d told her that.

  She narrowed her eyes at him when she turned her head. “Yes or no.”

  “Fine,” he sighed. “Yes.”

  “Good,” she responded. “Do you want a ceremony?”

  It took everything in him not to grind his teeth in frustration. “Yes,” he answered once again.

  “Do you have any issue with me finishing school other than the fact that we’d be apart?”

  “No.” At least he didn’t growl that out, although it was close.

  “You have men you trust here?”

  He stumbled as they crossed the lush lawn toward the Alpha house. “What?”

  “Honest answer.” She snapped her fingers. “Quick.”

  “Yes!”

  Emily nodded. “Okay.”

  The front door opened before they’d even reached the stairs.

  “You took longer than we expected. Lamont is waiting on you,” Tony said as he joined them.

  Cain rolled his eyes at his older brother. Tony probably thought they’d been having sex. Jeez, he could only wish. Instead he felt like he’d been put through the wringer. Not that he could tell his brother that, especially with Emily still at his side. Instead, he tossed her bag at Tony’s chest. “Drop that in my room for us, please,” he said. “I’m headed to the office now.”