He’d let the crowd dissipate, forget this little fight, and then question the wolves later. Let the simmer in fear.
As Abel flashed his badge to the onlookers, the wolves scurried away and pretended to be interested in playing pool, but he could see them snarling at him from across the room.
He took a deep breath and braced himself for drinking in the woman behind him. His mate. The smell of her washed over him. She was like lilies and an autumn breeze, like warm honey in winter. There was no way to describe how good she smelled, but he almost recognized it. Her smell reminded him of a time when he was still innocent, before he had had to choose between his career and his heritage. Before he had learned the true cost of protecting people.
He turned around and faced her, and his inner bear nearly forced him to lift her up over his shoulder and take her out into the car to have his way with her. But he fought that urge. A human—and this woman was a human—would find that kind of behavior very odd, to say the least.
Abel could barely contain himself as he looked at her. His eyes scanned her up and down, and he couldn’t decide where to look, where to stare. Her body was big and beautiful, and she was all curves, all lovely and welcoming curves that he could grab hold of and be rough with. He didn’t need to worry about snapping this woman in half, and he could certainly wrap his arms around her and really feel her against him. Human or not, she was perfect for him.
And her face. She had cherubic features: big, wide cheeks and wide, blue eyes. She had a cute little button nose, and her long brown hair hung down her shoulders, while her bangs were cut straight across, hanging down onto her eyebrows. It was like her hair was a beautiful window into her face, and Abel never wanted to look away. He felt like he knew this face, like he’d seen it before, but had somehow forgotten it. But how could he ever forget this woman?
Her eyes, glassy and wet, widened even more as he looked at her. She finally made eye contact with him, and then her face flushed red, and she looked away before he could remember to breathe.
Crap. He’d blown it. He’d come across as a total brute, and then he’d stared at her for who knows how long. Stared like he was too dumb to talk, and she finally felt so embarrassed by it that she couldn’t help but look away.
“Idiot!” His bear shouted, “Let me take over!’
Yeah, a giant bear in a bar sounded like a great idea. He forced himself, finally, to speak. “I’m a cop, that’s why I...uh...”
She squinted at him, and something like shock, tinted with recognition illuminated her features.
“Abel!” she said. And then her face lit up into a beautiful smile, stretching from cheek to cheek.
That voice. He recognized it somehow. He knew this woman.
CHAPTER THREE
Effie
“Effie?” Abel said.
God. Wow. He remembered her? How would this big beautiful man remember her?
“I’m here too,” Jessica said, standing in front of the crowd and right next to Effie.
Abel’s eyes snapped into focus, and he looked at Jessica, as if he honestly had not noticed her until just now. Jessica, who was fit and slim and at least twice as hot as Effie. Abel hadn’t noticed beautiful Jessica, but he’d noticed Effie?
“Oh,” Abel said, “Hi, Jessica.”
Realizing that there wasn’t going to be a full-on fight, the crowd muttered and dissipated.
Abel looked right back at Effie, Jessica again forgotten. Maybe Effie had some big mustard stain on her face, and Abel had some kind of OCD thing where he couldn’t look away from it. But Effie realized, as her stomach growled, that she had completely forgotten to eat.
“You sound hungry,” Abel said, “can I buy you something to eat?”
“Sound hungry?” Effie said, “the music is blaring, and everyone is shouting, how could you possibly have heard that?”
“Uh,” Abel said, “cops have to have good hearing. Or maybe I just could tell you were hungry? What do you want? The fish and chips here are amazing.”
“Okay,” Effie said. She wasn’t saying okay to the fish and chips, not really. She was simply fighting off denial that this man was offering to buy her dinner. That he was seemingly interested in her. It was a dumbfounded and confused ‘okay.’ What else could she say? She sure as hell wasn’t going to turn him down.
Abel put the order in with the bartender, and Jessica took the opportunity to look Effie in the eyes with a manic grin and mouth a silent 'Oh. My. God.'
Effie pretended to be dense, pretended she didn't know what Jessica was implying, but Jessica wouldn't have it.
She leaned right into Effie's ear and whispered excitedly, "He's so totally into you!"
Effie pursed her lip and looked at Jessica, and then she squinted, as if to say, 'Eh, I don't think so.'
Jessica widened her eyes and nodded a bit. 'I definitely think so!'
Effie exaggerated her next expression, scrunching up her entire face and raising one eyebrow as high as she could manage. Somehow they were saying more with these expressions than they could whisper back and forth.
Just as Effie's face reached maximum scrunched-upedness, she noticed Abel staring at her.
"You okay?" he asked. "Ah, is it the fish and chips? Is that like, too greasy for a first date?"
Jessica grinned ear to ear, and thankfully Abel could only see the back of her head. 'Date,' she mouthed to Effie, and then she said aloud, "Hey, you two, great catching up with both of you, but I just see someone else I need to talk to. I need to talk to her for, uh, a while. Have fun on your date!"
She hustled off before Effie could protest, and Jessica looked back and held her thumb and pinky up to her ear. Call me.
Abel sat down beside her, and Effie watched wide-eyed. She worried that the barstool couldn't bear his massive frame, but he sat right down and smiled at her. She didn't know what to say, so she looked from side to side nervously.
"Oh," he said, "the date comment? I'm sorry...I—I didn't actually ask you out, did I? I ran into you, scared your friend away, and then got all pushy. It's just, when I want something, sometimes I can't—"
"It's okay!" Effie interrupted. But she regretted it instantly. He had just said 'when I want something,' about her! And she had cut him off right before he had gotten to the good part. Stupid, Effie! "It's okay...I wanted to eat with you. Really."
"Oh," he said, smiling again, "Good, because I got us a table. It's a lot more like a real date if we're not sitting at the bar." He stood up, tall, towering above her.
And he took her hand.
His big, strong hand enveloped hers, and heat flushed across her body, concentrating in her cheeks. She looked nervously around, worried everyone would be staring at the beautiful man with the plain girl, but no one even seemed to notice. Except Jake. He and his little pack were playing pool at a table in the furthest corner, but she could feel his hateful gaze seething across the room, locked on her and Abel.
She ignored him. Abel had fought off all three of them, and she was safe so long as she was with him. She had come to this bar because she didn't want to feel afraid anymore, and like a gift from God, Abel had strutted through that door to her rescue. If he was with her, she wouldn't be afraid.
She sat down across from him. It was luxurious to sit across from Abel. She could look at him all she wanted, or all she dared to. She didn't want to be caught staring, but she realized that he never really looked away. It wasn't a creepy or lingering stare, just a legitimate interest in her. How could this man be so damn attracted to her? He'd walked right in and picked her out of everyone in here. Maybe it was just nostalgic memories from childhood. The girl he used to know, the one he'd protected back then.
"You've really grown up," he said.
She wasn't quite sure if that statement contradicted her nostalgia theory, or supported it.
"You too," she said, her eyes falling across his hint of chest hair poking out from his V-neck t-shirt, and then lingering on his biceps.
"Sorry," he said, "when I see something I like, I have—"
"No," Effie interrupted—again—like the biggest idiot in the world, "I was just, uh, surprised that you're interested in me."
"We've known each other a long time," he said. "Or...we knew each other a long time ago, and that gap in the middle feels like a vacuum, like it needs to stabilize and suck all the air back up, to reach equilibrium. You know what I mean?"
"Uh," Effie said, smiling, "Not really?"
He winced with a pained expression, and he scratched the back of his head. "I'm no good with metaphors. I just mean it doesn't seem fair, you know? We almost grew up together. That's how it feels, and now I want to make up for lost time."
Effie clasped her hands together and pulled her arms in front of her, feeling embarrassed and happy at the same time, to hear him talk so bluntly about how he felt. Then she realized she was basically just pressing her boobs together and leaning forward, and even with t-shirt, she was probably flashing a ton of cleavage at him.
His mouth hung open, and his eyes snapped back up at her. His cheeks flushed a bit, and he grinned wide, seeming a tiny bit ashamed to have been caught checking her out, but there was something else, some other feeling she couldn't quite peg. He was puffed up with his chest out. He looked...proud?
CHAPTER FOUR
Abel
Effie leaned forward, and suddenly there was an eyeful of cleavage in front of him. He strained to be a gentleman, to not look down. His bear roared loud, and it forced him to check her out. At least that's what he told himself when he gave in and took a peek.
Glorious cleavage. He'd want to take her on at least two fancy dates before he even thought of doing anything too fun with her, but this was a nice sneak peek, something to really look forward to. This woman's—and not just a woman, his mate—curves were out of control, and his bear especially wanted to feel every soft mound of flesh on her body. But Abel the man wanted to take things slow. He wanted to spend his life with this woman, and taking time to get to know her first was well worth hearing his bear moan and whine.
"Those big mounds of flesh can feed so many cubs," his bear said.
They're breasts. Breasts. If he ever called them 'mounds of flesh' to Effie's face, there wouldn't be any cubs at all.
Abel wrested control from his bear and forced himself to look back up, and Effie was already blushing and looking right at him. He'd been caught.
He couldn't risk coming off like some hornball perv. Effie wasn't that kind of woman. He chided his inner bear, told him to go back to sleep.
"She saw us looking. It's good, now she knows you want to get her pregnant, since she knows you approve of her milk bags."
Milk bags? Jesus. If this progressed to dirty talk, he had to be extra careful that his bear didn't put words in his mouth. It was embarrassing enough getting caught leering, but if he ever said 'milk bags' aloud, he'd probably just go hibernate forever in shame.
Just as he got ready to speak, he saw Jake and the other two wolves trying to sneak out of the bar.
"Effie," he said, "please forgive me, but I need to go stop those three."
She looked a bit disappointed, and it hurt him to see her like that, but that also meant she was interested, right?
"I'll be right back!" he said, turning away from her. God, how it pained him to walk away from her like this. But he would be back. Right back.
The wolves snuck out a side door, but Abel sprinted to the main door, got outside, and placed himself right in front of their bikes. He managed to strike a relaxed pose just as the wolves came around the corner.
Nick and Danny groaned when they saw him, and Jake growled low in his throat.
"Where you going?" Abel said. "I thought I told you to stay put. I said I needed to talk to you."
"Looked like you was too busy getting all doe-eyed at that bitch," Jake said.
Abel's bear roared and took over. Before he realized what was happening, his hand was wrapped around Jake’s throat, and Jake was two feet off the ground, face red.
Abel squeezed hard, feeling the veins in Jake’s neck bulge against his hand and blood pulsed through. Jake’s eyes flashed gold, but he couldn’t breathe let alone shift. Abel finally fought his bear back down, and finally managed to release his grip on Jake’s neck. Jake dropped to the ground, face deep crimson. He gagged and choked, and the veins on his forehead were bulging, and his face was soaked with sweat, snot, and drool.
Jake looked up at Abel with glowing, golden eyes and bubbling spit dripping down his mouth. Nick and Danny growled and took a step toward him.
"If you talk about her like that again," Abel said, "I'll maul your face off next time. Help him up."
Danny reached a hand down and lifted Jake up.
Over Jake's rasping breaths, Abel said, "Listen. I know this so-called killer on the news is a panther. Have any of you three seen a panther around here recently? Smelled anything? Heard anything?"
"Nothing," Jake said, cheek twitching in anger.
Nick looked ready to speak, but Jake shot a menacing glance toward him, silencing him.
"I know about the meth lab," Abel said.
"And?" Jake hissed.
"And," Abel said, "If I try to shut it down, another one will just pop right up. So I don't want to waste good police time on something that won't do anything."
"Sounds like it ain't a problem then," Jake said. "Glad we understand each other."
"I will shut it down though," Abel said, "I'll waste everyone's time, and you'll lose a lot of money. You think your alpha will be happy to find out you were the one who got the police on your ass?"
"Just tell 'em, Jake," Danny said.
Jake elbowed Danny in the gut, but the damage was done.
"If I tell you what I know, and it ain't much, you lay off our labs? All of 'em."
"Yeah," Abel said. "What do you know?"
"Don't know anything," Jake said, "but right before you got here. We smelled something. Panther scent."
"Did you see him?" Abel asked.
"Nope, he was gone when we got there, scent was fresh though."
"Why is there no scent now then?" Abel asked.
"I dunno," Jake said, "maybe he knows there's a traitor shifter cop, and he's covering his tracks extra well?"
Abel growled at Jake, but his logic was sound. Even the panthers, who rarely came into the city, would know about Abel, the traitor shifter. He had more tools than regular cops, and that was great for catching human criminals. Shifter criminals though knew what Abel could do, and they knew how to cover their tracks from him.
"Get the fuck out of here," Abel said, "and I don't ever want to see any of you or your pack anywhere near Effie."
He turned away and went back inside.
She was still sitting there when he came back. She wasn't a dream, and he hadn't just imagined her. He felt awful for leaving her, but he was on duty, and it wasn't like he was out writing traffic tickets to fill a quota. He was hunting someone with superhuman senses and strength, and Effie just happened to be this guy's type. This panther wasn’t killing the women, but they were disappearing. Leaving Effie waiting and alone for a few minutes was necessary if it led him closer to the panther. Abel didn't even want to think how he was going to sleep at night, knowing that Effie was alone and undefended. Maybe he just wouldn't sleep. He could set up just down the street from her and use his sense of smell. If he got the faintest whiff of a panther, he'd be at her house in moments, ready to protect her.
"Sleep with her!" his bear grumbled. "She's young and fertile, and you can smell that she's right in between bleedings! Protect her and put a little cub inside her!"
He smiled at her as he approached their table, and he imagined himself using his bear's line on her. "There's a killer out on the loose, and I can smell you're ovulating—between bleedings—you know? So let's kill two birds wi
th one stone, and I'll guard you and bed you."
He could nearly hear the loud slap on his face and the hot burning on his cheek a line like that would earn him. He'd trust his bear if he got a whiff of that panther, or any other kind of danger, but bears were no good at human courtship rituals.
"You're a bear too!” his bear muttered at him.
Well, he couldn't deny that, but right now he wanted to eat a nice greasy plate of flour-battered and fried fish, even if it wasn't pulled fresh out of the river.
Unbearable Curves (The Grizzly Next Door 1) Page 3
