by Unknown
But it was more than sex, far more than the usual one night stand. She felt a connection when she was in his arms that nearly took over all conscious thought. It was as though she belonged to him, his possession to do with as he pleased. She couldn’t refuse him, not because she was vulnerable, she wasn’t – but because she simply didn’t want to. The idea of not letting him have his way with her, of not allowing him to kiss her, to hold her, to push himself deep inside of her as if he were marking her as his own…she couldn’t bear it. Not when he had her pinned against the wall, not when he had her kneeling on the floor in front of him, and certainly not when he had made soft, gentle love to her while cradling her against his broad, strong chest.
What was it about Caleb? How did this man have such incredible power over her, and what exactly was she looking for? Did she even want a long-term relationship?
Two meetings later (and several hours of wading through paperwork with her assistant) she was off to the courthouse again for yet another meeting. The work hadn’t improved her mood much, but she did get a lot done, which was a sign of how pissed-off she was. The more revved she got; the more intensely she tended to tackle her work. She’d probably scared her assistant half to death with the way she’d whirled through the office, determined, insistent and driven to do the best with what she could control.
If they only knew just how little control I had otherwise…
Grumbling under her breath, she hunted for a parking spot, but to her dismay couldn’t find anything close to the building. She ended up parking nearly three blocks away, which only soured her mood further because she’d chosen stiletto heels instead of the sensible pumps sitting on her closet rack. Taking a deep breath and one last swig of coffee, she forced herself to calm down as she trotted up the steps to the courthouse. If she walked into that courtroom looking even a tiny bit frazzled, the defense would tear her apart and she’d be nothing more than a vile of blood in piranha infested waters.
She would drive Caleb from her mind one way or another. No man should have this much control over a woman. She was determined to make sure he never did again.
Chapter Four
When she walked out of the courtroom several hours later, her stride was more confident, and there was a smile on her face—a grim one, but a smile nonetheless. She had the defense on the run, and there was no doubt in her mind that the jury would rip him to shreds by the time this trial was finished.
Checking her watch, she decided to stop for food along the way back to her office. Normally she would have gone home by now, but there were a few things that still needed taking care of. They could have waited until tomorrow, but she had the time now, so why not?
Plus, if she kept herself busy with work she wouldn’t have time to think of Caleb.
“Miss Martin!” A man in a leather jacket, tight black t-shirt and faded old jeans hurried up to her. His blonde hair was windswept back from a strong face with sharp blue –grey eyes that were fixated on her with an unsettling intensity. “Just the woman I’ve been looking for.”
“Excuse me?”
“Please, come with me.” He hooked her arm through his. “I have something important to discuss with you.”
“I’m not going anywhere—” she stopped at the icy feel of a metal gun barrel pressing against her rib.
“Just keep walking,” he advised, “if you don’t want your blood staining the sidewalk.
Paige mightily resisted the urge to scream for help, not knowing what would happen if she did. Even if he didn’t decide to shoot her, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t shoot someone else. Her mind whirled as she tried to figure out what was going on. Who was this man? What did he want with her? What had she done to attract this kind of attention? Had she pissed off a client, or someone she’d gone head-to-head with in the courtroom before? It wasn’t as if she’d never gotten threatening letters or emails before… but she never thought she was in enough danger to end up in this position.
Panic began to well up in her throat when he steered her into an alleyway. The sun had just disappeared over the horizon, and not a lot of people were walking these streets right now. Hyperventilating, she began to struggle. “Who are you? What do you want? Let me g—”
The man clamped a hand across her face, and holstered his gun so that he could reach into his pocket. “Quiet, woman. Listen, this isn’t personal… but it is necessary, and you don’t have a choice but to cooperate with me, you understand? If you don’t it’s going to get real messy.”
“Is this her?” Another man stepped out from the shadows of the alley, dressed in jeans and a collared shirt. He was beefier than the man who’d taken her, and a lot more rough looking, with a shaven head and a scruffy face. A scar slashed over his left eye, giving him a frightening appearance.
“Sure is. You’ve got the car?”
The second man jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Just on the other side. Let’s wrap her up and go.” He tossed a black bag and a length of rope over, and Paige began struggling all over again. She couldn’t let them take her away. She just couldn’t.
“If that bag touches her face, I’ll rip yours off,” a familiar voice growled, and Paige whipped her head around to see Caleb standing there, his expression cold as the wind that was starting to pick up. Relief flooded through her, especially when she saw the pistols in his hands, one trained on each of her kidnappers. “After I blow a hold through your skull, that is.”
To her surprise, the men laughed. “Come on now. You know that your bullets can’t kill us. And it’s two against one.”
Caleb showed his teeth. “I don’t need the numbers to be on my side.”
What came next happened so fast that Paige never quite figured out the order of events afterward. One moment the men were standing there, and the next they were springing for each other in a whirlwind of… claws and fur? Snarls and howls filled the alleyway, and Paige gaped as she realized all three of them had turned into what appeared to be wolves. Strong, powerful earthly beasts with thick coats of fur, teeth bared, eyes on fire in a swirl of golden ash. Growls echoed through the air, paws tipped in razor sharp claws.
The one closest to her was a dark shade of brown, with a small splotch of white on his tail and golden eyes that glowed a bright gold. The other two were a greyish-white with icy blue eyes. All three of them were ferocious and terrifying, and Paige instinctively backed up against the wall, blinded with fear of what would happen if she got too close, her mind unable to comprehend the scene that was unfolding in front of her eyes.
Am I hallucinating? She wondered in a panic. If I close my eyes, will it all go away? She squeezed them shut, but when she opened them they were still there right in front of her…growling, and battling each other in a fury of teeth and claws. Caleb seemed to be holding his own, but there was a trace of blood on his muzzle, and she didn’t know if it was his or one of the other wolves. And regardless of what he said, he was still outnumbered. She needed to do something. But what help could she possibly be?
Frantically, she looked around for something, anything. Her eyes alighted on two pistols on the ground—the ones Caleb had been holding. Before she could talk herself out of it, she darted over and snatched one up, then took aim… or tried to.
“Goddammit,” she cursed under her breath, trying to get a clear shot. It had been a long time since she’d last held a gun, and they were moving so fast it was hard to get a lock on one of them. “You bastards, stop!”
That got their attention. One of them looked up, and she squeezed off a shot, aiming for the head. It caught him in the side of the neck, and the wolf collapsed, then changed back into a human. It was the blonde who had bullied her into the alley. He didn’t look so threatening, with his eyes closed and his face covered in blood. The other wolf shifted back into a human and tossed his friend over his shoulder. His ear was bloody and there were scratches on his arms, but he didn’t seem to notice, passing a look of hatred over both of them.
“
I’ll be back, Caleb. You can count on that.”
Caleb lunged for him, but the man flexed his powerful thighs and jumped straight to the top of the building. Paige gaped after him, and then looked back to see that Caleb had shifted back into human form as well. He had a gash on his forehead and blood was soaking through the shoulder of his dress shirt as he fixed his eyes on Paige. Eyes, she noticed, that were still golden.
“Are you alright?”
“I…” She wanted to yell at him, to ask a thousand questions, demand that he give her answers, but her vision narrowed, and dizziness washed over her. “You have a lot of explaining to do.” She could barely hear the sound of her own voice over the roaring in her ears.
Her vision grew black, and she pitched forward.
* * * *
“Are you sure?” Adam demanded after Caleb had finished explaining all that had happened. “Absolutely sure?”
“Well, I can’t be completely certain,” Caleb snapped, “but I know they don’t belong to any of the clans we’re familiar with.”
Adam sat back in his chair and pressed his fingers to his temples. “I’ll have to check with the Network, see if they show up anywhere.”
The Network was a database of shifter clans, headed up by each of the clan leaders known as Alphas. Every member of a clan was registered, so if these two were or had ever been members of a clan it would be easy enough for Adam to find.
“You have no idea why they were after her, though? How does she fit into this?”
Caleb glanced down the hallway from his seat on the living room sofa. Paige was behind one of those bedroom doors, still passed out from anxiety. He’d brought her straight to Adam, not just because he was the clan leader, but because Adam’s gated mansion was one of the safest places in the city. As an ex-special forces commander, he’d outfitted it with enough security and weapons to last through World War III. The human friends he had mostly thought he was just a paranoid bastard, but Caleb knew from experience that Adam had more than enough reason to take those kinds of precautions.
“I can only imagine they were trying to get to me.”
Adam narrowed his eyes. “You have a cousin and a mother they could have gone after. Why would they choose her? Someone who isn’t connected to you?”
Caleb swallowed hard. He couldn’t lie to Adam; his clan leader could scent a lie, and he’d be skinned alive for it. Then again, he’d be skinned alive for telling the truth anyway, so what was the difference? Thankfully, the sound of footsteps padding down the hall saved him from having to answer. Paige entered the room, her face pale, her fiery curls in disarray, and Caleb’s blood fired instantly. She looked so deliciously beautiful, standing there with bed head and bare feet and a wrinkled suit, that it was all he could do not to scoop her up in his arms and carry her down the hallway into bed.
Adam’s nostril’s flared as he caught the scent of Caleb’s lust, and he gave him a dangerous snarl that clearly said we’ll discuss this later. Then he slid a mask of calm over his face as he rose to greet Paige.
“I’m glad to see you’re awake. How are you feeling?”
“Like I was nearly kidnapped by people who can turn into wolves,” she snapped. “Who are you? And what the hell happened back there?” She turned her fiery green eyes in Caleb’s direction.
“You’re welcome for saving you,” he said dryly.
“Don’t, Caleb. It’s obvious that all this has something to do with you, since you can turn into… into…” She looked pale and confused, as though she had aged in just a few short hours. Adam took her gently by the elbow and guided her to a chair, which she sank into gratefully. Caleb held back a snarl—he didn’t like the idea of Adam touching her in any way, even if it was casual, but he was in no position to speak up. Not just yet.
“Here, have some water.” Adam pressed a glass into her hand. “I know this must all be very shocking for you, so please, just try to relax.”
“You could say that.” Paige sipped her water slowly, and Caleb was pleased to see some of the color return to her cheeks. She looked up at him, her eyes mistrusting, skeptical but ever the emerald-isle that he found himself lost in.
“So, who are you people, exactly? Are you… werewolves?”
“We’re Lycans,” Adam replied quietly. “Werewolves are a completely different type of animal.”
“What he means to say,” Caleb continued before Paige could respond, “is that we don’t have the same handicaps as werewolves. We aren’t limited to changing only under a full moon, nor do we become mindless monsters that destroy everything around us. We also don’t have a weakness to silver. We just change from wolf to man, whenever we need to.”
“And we have super-regenerative healing abilities, of course.” Adam added.
Paige just stared at them. “And this is supposed to be better than being a werewolf? It sounds like you’re a lot harder to kill.”
Adam growled. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Paige…” Caleb replied, his voice low and calm. “We are no different from you, from any human. We are just stronger…and more capable.”
“I see.” Paige whispered in response, shaking her head in confusion. Finally, she glanced up at Adam. “What’s your name?”
“Adam… Adam Drake.” His eyes were still narrowed, but he took a seat next to her. “I’m the clan leader. They call me their Alpha.”
She was silent for a moment. “Are… are there a lot of…lycans?”
“A fair number.” Adam cleared his throat. “Now I have a question for you.” His eyes narrowed. “How is it that you know Caleb?”
“Caleb?” She glanced over at him. “We went to high school together. And we see each other at the courthouse every once in a while. Just yesterday we were even working together on the same trial.”
“I see.” Adam replied, his face set in concern. “Do you have a… relationship that I should be aware of?”
Before Caleb could reply, Paige’s tone turned frosty. “No.” She sent Caleb a venomous glare. “But I don’t see how that’s really any of your business, Adam.”
“Those wolves attacked you because of your connection to Caleb,” Adam explained with as much patience as he could muster. “There has to be more between you than either of you are claiming, otherwise they’d have no interest in you.”
“What?” Paige replied, suddenly once again afraid. “So, what happens now?”
“Now?” Adam shrugged. “I will be looking into the origin of these wolves. Where they come from, what clan they are a part of and what they want with you. But as far as I’m concerned, you’re a human with no affiliation to the clan, and I have no personal obligation toward you… or to offer our protection in any way.”
Paige shot to her feet. “What about the wolves who attacked me? How is that not your concern?”
“If they were members of my clan, I would discipline them. But they’re not, and so the best I can do is track them down to determine whether they are a risk to the clan or not.” He looked pointedly at Caleb. “You’ve involved her in this; therefore if you want to ensure she stays safe, you had better take care of her protection.”
“Yes, sir.” Caleb tried to keep the anger out of his voice—his pack leader was doing this as a kind of punishment. How the fuck was he supposed to stay out of Paige’s bed if he was supposed to be guarding her? But then how could he leave her unprotected?
“Good. Now both of you… go home and get some sleep.”
Chapter Five
The drive back to Paige’s house was absolutely silent and tension-filled. Caleb searched his mind desperately, trying to think of what to say that would dissipate the evil glares she was still sending his way, but he couldn’t think of anything that would ease her mind or make her feel better.
To be fair, he completely deserved every bit of it and he knew it. He had no right to move in on her the way he did and expect to be able to walk right back out of her life with no consequence. He had known that
…the risks, yet he couldn’t control his desire for her and it had nearly killed her. She had every right to be furious with him.
He pulled into the driveway, then immediately killed the engine. They sat for a moment, before he turned to face her.
“Paige, I’m sorry.”
Crack! His head snapped to the side from the force of her hard, cold slap. He shook his head, then caught her second slap before it could connect to his face once more.
“Let go of me!” she cried, tugging her hand free as though his touch was burning her. “You are such an asshole! Do you really think a simple apology is enough for what you’ve done to me all these years.”
“I—all these years?” he replied, confused. “Paige, you’ve only been back in town for a year, and during that time I’ve hardly seen you. What are you talking about?” Watching her from the rooftop at night didn’t count, dammit.
“No. No, no, no. You put a wall up between us during our freshman year of high school when you knew how I felt about you. You’ve deliberately been distant for years, Caleb, all the while going hot and cold. I’m done with this…with you.” She wrenched open the passenger’s side door, then slammed it shut as she stalked into the house.
Caleb was stunned for only a moment; then he was out of the car and following her inside. “Are you serious, Paige? I had no idea you felt that way for me.”
She whirled around to face him, jabbing a manicured fingernail into his chest. Despite the situation, or perhaps because of it, heat flooded through his veins as he remembered how she’d raked her nails down his back last night. “If it was just that, if it was just the way you’d shut me out that day in the park, I could have handled that. But I never forgot the smoldering looks you gave me whenever you thought I wasn’t looking, or the way your eyes would flare whenever you saw me holding hands with another guy. And it drove me crazy because whenever I looked at you directly your eyes were always so cold, and I couldn’t figure out whether or not I was just imagining it all or if you had feelings for me but were…but were afraid to show them!”
