by Jory Strong
Kellen released the hound’s form. “I’m not taking her as a mate.”
“Your choice.” Maksim expression remained clearly disbelieving.
She’ll get hurt, Kellen nearly said, but managed to cut off the words.
She wouldn’t get hurt if he kept his hands off her and his cock out of her.
He could resist the temptation she presented.
He could.
He absolutely could.
“Fine,” Kellen growled for a second time and grabbed a go bag from beneath his desk.
They returned to Maksim’s office, Kellen bracing himself before stepping inside.
It didn’t help.
Color immediately flagged Analia’s cheeks at the sight of him and she quickly looked down at her lap. She’d replaced the items in her purse and now her hands clenched on the small bag.
The guilt that had driven him to follow her out of the club returned. Words scrambled and chased around in his head but didn’t line up in a way allowing him to explain his actions, especially in front of Maksim.
“I believe you’re in danger,” Maksim told Analia, whose gaze instantly snapped upward to Maksim’s face. “For that reason, I’m assigning Kellen to guard you and to investigate the threat.”
“No,” Analia said, her heart pounding so hard she could barely hear herself over its thunder.
Maksim sat at the corner of his desk. “I understand from Crew and Gaige that you and Kellen got off to an awkward start—”
“No. It’s not that,” Analia said, not wanting to revisit the hurt. “It’s just—”
Maksim’s raised hand was an imperious command to halt. “I’d prefer not to involve other branches of government in this situation.”
Her heart rabbited at the implied threat. “I could stay with Taine and Saffron,” she said, hearing the desperation in her own voice.
“Kellen has a certain skillset that lends itself to the task at hand.” Maksim’s expression softened. He leaned forward, a conspiratorial gleam coming into his eyes. “Here’s your chance to step foot in the supernatural world. You must have an interest in it, or you wouldn’t have attended the supernatural fair.”
She tingled again, at having confirmation of the old man’s claim about where possession of the charms would lead. But she continued to avoid looking at her bracelet, as she’d done when Maksim left the room, in case she was being watched.
She risked a glance at Kellen, whose firm lips sent a flutter through her chest as she remembered them softened and pressed against her mouth.
“Okay,” she told Maksim, but she would not make the same mistake she had in the club. Regardless of the intense, continued attraction, she would not surrender to desire or to the belief that somehow Kellen was her true mate.
He was obviously taken—even if he didn’t consider himself taken. It made far more sense that the importance of the encounter with him at Stones was that it had led to the beginning of her journey, the one that would ultimately lead to meeting Mr. Right.
They left Maksim’s office in silence. Analia was glad she had her car and would have the drive back to her apartment to shore up her defenses. She needed time to get used to the idea of Kellen being with her twenty-four, seven.
She was hyper-aware of his presence at her side. Could barely keep herself from looking at him, despite the lingering embarrassment of giving in to him on the dance floor.
I’m not to blame for tempting him into straying. He was probably used to making conquests. But for her, the encounter had left a raw, aching place in her chest.
Live and learn. Hadn’t that always been a favorite motto?
She kept expecting Kellen to peel away and head for one of the expensive cars lining the curb. Geez, she hoped this wasn’t her tax dollars at work! The house and cars on display were worth millions!
Go! Go! Go! She silently chanted to Kellen. But instead of leaving her side, he matched her step by step, causing her nerves to tighten until she couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Don’t you think this is a bit extreme? Who’s going to attack me right here, right now?”
“My vehicle is at Stones.”
“Oh.” And her face flamed.
She wondered if she was always going to feel like an idiot around him. But as soon as the question arrived, she realized that’d be the less dangerous emotion.
She was on guard now. But let down that guard and she had a bad feeling she’d once again feel the sizzling lust that’d blotted out everything else when they were on the dance floor.
They reached her blue Prius. She braced herself for close proximity and being trapped in a small place with Kellen.
Kellen shoehorned himself into the front passenger seat and thought it was a good thing it took a lot to kill supernaturals when they were in this realm. Her car would be no match for a lot of what was out there on the freeways.
Like Maksim, his ride was a Hummer, not because he needed all that steel, but because he preferred not to be delayed and inconvenienced by humans experiencing road rage, and he’d found the Hummer cut down on instances of it.
Analia kept both hands on the steering wheel and her attention focused on driving, as if they’d entered rush hour traffic or were on a speedway packed with aggressive racers instead of darkened, deserted, residential streets.
Fuck!
This was his doing.
He’d set this in motion.
He caught himself driving the fingers of both hands through his hair. What I love about dogs, she’d told his hound self, is there’s no pretense. If a female in heat comes along, adios. You’re going to give chase. If someone with better treats or a more magical touch when it comes to ear and belly rubs comes along, you’ll probably give in to temptation. And that’s okay. I know that going in, and it’s okay. No hurt feelings. No heartbreak. But men… Men are a totally different story.
Fuck!
He had to say something. He had to make it right. But where the fuck to start?
“Deidra is not my girlfriend, or my wife, or my anything, nor has she ever been, despite the impression you got,” he said, going with the first thing that popped. “She wants to be, but there’s not a chance in hell of it happening. Ever.”
The hands gripping the steering wheel tightened. “Your love life is your business. It’s got nothing to do with me.”
A stab of anger had him inhaling sharply, filling his nostrils with Analia’s scent, something he’d been able to ignore since she and Maksim showed up together at the dog pound.
His cock went rock hard and the rush of blood southward made him lightheaded enough that he nearly grabbed the steering wheel to jerk the car to the curb so he could make his love life her business.
A sliver of sanity prevailed. He rolled down his window and a blast of air drove her scent back.
One minute he was telling me he needed more, and the next he was walking away without looking back, she’d confided when she thought she was talking to a stray dog.
“I was doing us both a favor,” he growled.
That finally gained her attention. She glanced at him, an adorable scrunch to her face. “What?”
“I was doing us both a favor when I walked away after the dance.”
Her focus returned to the road in front of them, but she no longer had a death grip on the steering wheel.
An improvement, he thought. Not that it mattered, he silently added, though the ease of constriction in his chest might as well have screamed lie.
“How was it a favor?”
To his ears—his very keen hound ears—her question held hope as well as trepidation.
Fuck! Talk about a lose-lose situation.
Not that his cock agreed. It was hard and hurting, and had been since the sharp inhalation of her scent. A scent that said mate.
Potential mate, he answered instinct with a silent snarl.
He had a choice. And his choice was to remain unmated.
Her hands slowly tightened on the
steering wheel and fuck, it sent a shaft of something, something he refused to acknowledge as unhappiness through his chest.
“When I asked you to dance, I didn’t realize you were Saffron’s friend.”
The adorable face scrunch reappeared. “And that matters why?”
“Because she’s Taine’s mate and I work with Taine.”
“So?”
His eyes narrowed. Was she being deliberately difficult? Or did she really need to hear him spell it out?
Her hands tightened a little more on the steering wheel. He said, “I don’t do permanent when it comes to women. I do fast and uncomplicated.”
Her hands didn’t loosen on the steering wheel. “And for some reason, you thought I was on the verge of falling madly in love with you and getting my heart broken?”
“Something like that.” She had admitted to his hound self that she wanted to meet Mr. Right. She had admitted to believing he was the one.
Chapter 5
“You have nothing to worry about,” Analia said, her heart not quite believing it was true, but she refused, refused, to acknowledge the connection she’d imagined she’d felt at Stones.
He was not the mate the charms would lead her too. He was just the catalyst and the encounter with him was the first step on the promised journey.
“That’s good to hear,” he said.
She took a deep breath, ready to put the conversation and the events at the club behind them. It didn’t matter whether he was telling the truth about the black-haired woman, Deidra.
It. Did. Not. Matter.
“Where to?” Analia asked.
“Stones, so I can retrieve my Hummer.” He pulled out his cellphone and texted someone. A second later a ding announced a response. “Your friends are still at the club. We’ll go in when we get there. I need to take a look at the tarot cards.”
A chill slid down Analia’s spine. She stifled the urge to glance at the bracelet.
Ace had seen her talking to the old man, may have actually seen her pull out her wallet and pay for the charms though he hadn’t asked her about the purchase.
Another text came in. Kellen read it and muttered what sounded like a curse directed at Maksim, then slipped the phone into his pocket.
He said, “For now it would be safer for you if anyone seeing us together believes that we’ve hooked up, and not that we’re together because of an active investigation.”
She managed a nod, but failed to block the memories of their dancing, kissing, of the hard feel of his erection against her mound and the heat in his voice when he’d said he needed more. She shivered, not convinced she could keep heart and mind separate if she found herself in his arms again, especially now that she knew he wasn’t involved with the dark-haired woman who’d had just about every other man in the place panting.
I can pull this off. I can! But the death grip she had on the steering wheel said otherwise, and her fingers were completely ignoring her brain’s command to loosen their grip.
“I wasn’t lying,” Kellen said. “You outshone every woman in the club.”
He was just trying to help her get into the role, she knew that, but her heart still fluttered. “Not a chance,” she denied.
“I could make you believe.”
His voice was a rough growl that might as well have been a hand shoved beneath her panties to cup her mound. And the worst part of it was that she wanted him to do just that—make her believe.
Why couldn’t Maksim have assigned the dog to this case? She was a lot more comfortable around the hound, or maybe, if she was being honest with herself, a lot more confident that she could be and stay in control.
If he’d just assigned the wolfhound, she could easily have learned whatever commands were needed to manage the dog. And then she wouldn’t be trapped in a small space with Kellen and battling the resurgence of fantasies.
They reached the beach, and then Stones. She parked the car next to Ace’s Harley and couldn’t help but think that it felt like a lifetime had passed since she’d gotten home, taken the call from Sabra and agreed to come to the club.
It felt as though her entire reality had somehow shifted. And that chased away some of the trepidation at being with Kellen. The journey predicted by the old man had begun. She could do this!
At the club’s front door, Kellen’s hand settled on her back, sending melting heat straight to her breasts, and lower, to pool in her sex.
It’s part of the hook-up act, she told herself.
She tried to shake off how good it felt to have him touching her but her body didn’t care. It only wanted more, more, more.
They entered the club. Sabra was just coming off the dance floor with the Hollywood Honey.
According to Saffron, there were actually Supernatural Ops groupies. They appeared at crime scenes. They created Facebook fan pages and blogs dedicated to identifying the agents and speculating about their supernatural powers or supernatural specialties.
“Is he really a prince?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Kellen answered, a hardness in his voice that had her glancing at his face.
It was completely shut down. Like somehow asking the question had struck a nerve.
For reasons she had no intention of examining, she said, “So we could refer to him as either Prince Hollywood or the Hollywood Honey?”
Kellen’s lips kicked upward, his expression thawing. “Either name could be applied to Gaige.” Then as quickly as he’d smiled, that smile turned into a frown. “I hope Saffron’s sister knows the score; he’s not looking for permanent.”
Analia didn’t know whether to fume or laugh. Seriously, did these guys really believe that every woman they encountered wanted a wedding ring?
“It may surprise you,” she couldn’t resist saying. “But not everyone who dances with one of you wants more than hot, sweaty sex.”
That earned her an arrogant glance. “They may start out that way, but they soon want to stake a claim.”
“Right,” Analia muttered.
Sabra was heading toward the seat she’d claimed for the night. At seeing them heading toward Sabra, the Hollywood Honey altered course and joined them at the table.
Sabra’s gaze immediately zeroed in on the way Kellen’s hand was on Analia’s back. Her eyebrows lifted in a silent question.
Analia’s face warmed. “Kellen has an interest in tarot cards,” she said, hoping they could take care of this and get out of the club, though the damage was already done.
Sabra would soon be texting her, and if that didn’t yield a juicy play-by-play of the hook-up with Kellen, she’d start calling. And Sabra could be relentless when it came to satisfying her curiosity.
“I’ll let you see them on one condition,” Sabra told Kellen, her smile warning enough, even for someone who didn’t know her well.
“Name it.”
“You get a reading.”
“What if I don’t have a question that needs answering?”
“You’d be lying,” Gaige said, gaze flicking to Analia. “Though from where I stand, the answer is obvious.”
Analia’s traitorous heart fluttered. What was it about Kellen that drew her, even when she knew any involvement would only lead to heartbreak?
Sabra pulled the deck of tarot cards from her purse. “The question has to be asked out loud. Yes or no?”
Analia couldn’t suppress the small shake of her head. Sabra was fearless. If she’d been the one sitting in Maksim’s office, the outcome probably would have been totally different. Sabra wouldn’t have meekly agreed to anything the IRE boss wanted.
“I’ll do a reading,” Kellen said, sounding as if he were grinding his teeth between words.
Sabra gave him the deck of cards. He took his hand off Analia’s back and she immediately missed the feel of it there, and the heat it produced.
Pressing the deck between his palms, Kellen lifted it to within inches of his face, his fingers pointed upward, almost as if offering a prayer.
Sabra stared at him speculatively and Analia wondered if she suspected Kellen was doing something more, something involving the supernatural.
He lowered his hands and began shuffling the deck. “You have to ask the question out loud,” Sabra reminded him, not mentioning that he only had to pull one card, the way the rest of them had done earlier in the evening.
“Where will my current investigation lead?” Kellen asked, the cards moving smoothly and easily through his hands.
Analia wondered if he often handled tarot decks, then remembered a comment Saffron had made, about Taine playing high stakes poker with fellow agents.
The cards went down on the table, one, two, three and her heart gave a little leap at seeing The Lovers, followed by the Six of Swords—the same card she’d gotten, symbolizing a journey—and then The Tower, depicted as a castle struck by lightning, its occupants, a man and a hound captured midway as they fell toward the ground.
Gaige laughed just as the dark-haired agent who’d been at the table with Kellen, and at the supernatural fair with Taine, joined them.
“Was I right, Crew? Or was I right?” Gaige asked the other agent.
One look at the cards and Crew slapped Gaige on the shoulder. “It might be time for us to run for the hills.”
“Agreed,” Gaige said, and with a final glance at Kellen, and a small shake of his head, he and Crew left.
The feel of finely honed hatred bore into Analia and she turned her head, spotting the woman she’d seen Kellen with earlier—Deidra. Sabra followed her gaze and said, “Looks like someone’s a sore loser.”
“It’s not a competition.”
“Right,” Sabra murmured in a disbelieving voice. “It’s not a competition.”
