Now or never. Tierney raced over to the window and pushed it up. She slipped her heels off and dropped them to the ground. Lucky her, a ledge about eighteen inches wide gave her access to a fire escape no farther than ten feet away. She’d need only edge along the narrow brownstone and climb onto the metal stairs to make her escape. A piece of cake. If only her dress didn’t weigh so much. Oh, this would in no way be fun.
She reached up, plucked her diamond tiara off her head, tossed it across the room like a Frisbee, gathered the excess fabric of her skirt, and climbed out the window. Two stories below, she could hear the music of the organ start up. In another minute, her cue to start down the aisle would play. She needed to move, and now.
Step. Slide. Step. Slide. She pressed her back to the stone and moved as quickly as she could. As she reached the fire escape, the wedding march started. Dun, dun-dun, dun, dun, dun-dun....
There goes the bride.... Tierney swung onto the metal staircase and flew down the steps as fast as she could go, stopping under the window only long enough to retrieve her heels and slip them on. She took off running down the alley, her bustle knocked loose from rubbing against the stone, the excessively long train flying behind, certainly drawing more attention than she’d like.
She reached the street in seconds and made a beeline for Interstate 90. Lucky her, she ran every morning, only not in heels. They did slow her down a bit. Plus, nobody would miss a bride in a priceless gown bolting down the street, even in the dark. She stuck out like a sore thumb. The faster she got to the interstate, the better the chances she could disappear.
***
“How much? I don’t think I’m reading this right.”
“Three thousand, two hundred fifty nine dollars.” Felix pushed the button on his steering wheel, lowering the volume on the call. Gee was ready to blow and, when he did, Felix didn’t want him to take his eardrums with him, especially after he told him about the section he’d missed on the emailed manifest. Now or never. “And, if you add in the cost for shipping, and special handling...I’ll round it up to an even four thousand and call it a day.”
Gee growled. “That’s highway robbery.”
“No, it’s business. Did you, or did you not call for a retriever? You know we can get you exactly what you want and when, but there is a price. It’s the way it’s always been done. Per our contract, I’ll be there tonight or it’s free. You already know I can’t send it back. I need to have the money upon delivery.” Felix’s family had served the pack for hundreds of years, first as peddlers, selling wares from their wagons, later, more of an internal shipping and receiving business and general errand runners.
They were pack members but always kept their distance, almost like an outside trading post. They handled transactions the pack members didn’t want to deal with. Banking, shopping, whatever needed to be done.
Felix ran a small business out of Hot Springs. It had been there for almost one hundred and fifty years. Get this, get that—it was what retrievers did. And they made damn good money doing it, too, even if they had to deal with grouchy bears every now and again.
Case in point. Gee. A whole lot of grumpy bruin.
“Yes. I clearly also stated enough hamburger to equal a full beef, not the whole herd. What is this special handling?”
“I had to wine and dine the butcher to get the best cuts.”
“I’m not paying for your date.”
“Not a date. Again, business. It’s in the contract. Paragraph—”
“Cuts? I ordered hamburger.”
“Well, yes, it’s true you ordered hamburger, but to get the best product, I had to grind down the choice meat. This is grass fed Brazilian beef, completely free range without any nasty hormones or shit added. It has also been aged for nearly a year in a climate-controlled facility. It is the best in the world. Did you or did you not say you wanted the best I could get?”
“I didn’t say from Brazil!” Gee roared.
Good thing he’d lowered the volume. “Calm down.”
“Calm down? I’ll have to charge twenty dollars a hamburger to recover my cost. I told Xio and Marcus I’d keep the cost per plate down if they held the reception at my bar. This is for a wedding, not a presidential inauguration!”
“Well, I can’t take it back now that I’ve ground it all up, can I?”
“I’m going to pound you to a pulp, wolf.”
“Easy there, bear. Perhaps we can come to an arrangement? I’ll take five percent off the surcharge.”
“The what?”
“Surcharge. I forgot to mention the surcharge on imports.”
“Excuse me?” The speakers in his modified Hummer damn near exploded.
“I didn’t stutter. It costs to do business, Gee. I have expenses.” Felix turned the volume down farther. “We’ll talk later, when you’ve calmed down.” He’d calm down, he always did, but getting a dime out of the bear was like squeezing blood from a beet, and he wasn’t so sure he’d get paid. Damn tight-ass bruin. Good thing he jacked the price right up, so when they did get down to negotiating the cost, the bear would feel like he’d gotten a real bargain.
Gee growled. “We’ll get this settled now. I’m not playing your game.”
“I’m already giving you a deal and I know a couple of places in Sturgis who will jump on it if you don’t. Just give me the word.”
“You call that a deal?”
“There’s also a restaurant in Los Lobos I’m sure would be thrilled to get this shipment, especially before Xio and Marcus’s wedding.” Speaking of weddings. Whoa baby, who let her get away? His headlights hit a vision in white, with her thumb out, hiking on the interstate, bosom almost heaving out of a dress which had to have been sewn on. His mind did a U-turn, and his dick jumped in excitement. Forget the price of beef. “Hey there, you sexy thing.”
“What?” Gee snarled.
“Look, I’ve got to go.”
“I know you weren’t calling me a sexy thing.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, bear. A lady in distress, and I’m a knight-in-shining-armor kind of guy.”
“A what? Wolf, you’re about to make me angry. I need my burger and I want it for a reasonable cost. I don’t have time for you to chase...don’t you remember the trouble you got into with the triplets from the traveling show?”
“I’ve told you a hundred times, it was Tad.” Might as well blame his brother, since he wasn’t around to defend himself. Contortionists with a circus. Hell no, he didn’t forget. Good times. Felix chuckled. The triplets’ father sure hadn’t thought so, though. Felix didn’t think the man would ever leave Hot Springs. Nothing scarier than being hunted by dozens of angry freaks. And clowns. Felix shivered. Mustn’t forget them. Yup, all those creepy clowns with weapons scaring people in Bakersfield, California might have something to do with a little rumor he’d let slip he’d hightailed it there. Of course, one could call it hearsay. He wouldn’t do anything like that. No, not at all. And he’d only recently moved back to his apartment above his business in Hot Springs and out of hiding in Los Lobos.
“You Dawsons are full of it,” Gee snarled, interrupting his trip down memory lane. “Explain the clowns.”
No, I’d rather not. Felix shivered. “A minor misunderstanding.” Yeah, he’d had to duck and seek cover in Los Lobos for a while, leaving his employees to run the business at his shop. Human employees who didn’t know about Los Lobos, nor could they, and the bonus, they did very little in his extended absence. Drew told him if he ever did something like the carnival weekend debacle again, he wouldn’t save his butt. He’d have to pay the so-called piper. So, he stopped dating triplets. Problem solved.
The whole situation had cost him a pretty penny. It could take him two years to recoup his losses, but he’d recover. He always did.
“Someday your womanizing will get you into a situation you can’t get out of. Mark my words, Retriever.” The bear took the opportunity to remind him every chance he got. It was w
hat he did. He was like this wise ass pack yogi or something. Snarf. Yogi Bear. Good one.
Yeah, I know. Right?
His dick or, more to the point, his appetite, had gotten him into a lot of things, panties, the back seat of Daddy’s sedan, bedroom windows in the middle of the night, but never into any trouble he couldn’t handle. If the bear thought he womanized, what did he think of his sibling, Tad, Paris runway model, otherwise known as Romeo? If a man-whore ever walked the Earth, it would be his brother. Not him.
Besides, Felix claimed single status, much to the chagrin of his mother who wanted a parcel of grand-pups, so no big deal if he sowed those wild oats. “I’ll see you in a few hours. I have a little rescuing to do.”
“Before midnight or it’s free. Per your contract.”
Right. Not going to happen. Click.
Felix pulled over and watched in the passenger side mirror as a young woman in a very extravagant dress ran up to his Hummer. She didn’t even lean into the open window to ask for a ride, but threw the door open and jumped in, hauling in her skirt as though she pulled someone up the side of a mountain. After about a minute, she’d retrieved all of her dress and slammed the door. The cab was filled with a cloud of white silk. Only her head, chest, and arms were visible in the mass, making her look one of those poufy dolls old ladies made to cover a box of tissues sitting on the back of a toilet tank.
“Go! Go!” Her cheeks were flushed. Huge green eyes popped wide in panic. Her big full lips begged to be tasted. The cab light snapped off, and still he could see the high color on her face.
“Aren’t you going to ask if I’m going your way first?”
“No. Any way away from here is my way. Don’t sit there. Get this vehicle in gear and move.”
“My name is Felix Dawson.”
“Hi. Can we go?”
He snorted and shook his head. “And your name is...?”
“What?”
“You have a name, right?”
“Yes, but I don’t give it to strangers.”
“But you jump up in their vehicle and tell them to take you away?”
“Good point. My name is Tierney Christianson, and I really need to get out of here. Please.”
“Seat belt first.”
“Huh?”
“Buckle up. Safety first.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
He tugged at a strap over his shoulder. “No. Anyone who rides with me wears one.”
“Are you a bad driver?”
“No, but I can’t account for everyone else out there.”
“I suppose your logic makes sense.” She sighed and reached under the mountain of fabric, sifting through the white froth, extracting the end of the belt with a very unladylike grunt. With a loud click, she snapped the buckle together. “Can we go now? Please?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He stepped on the gas, pulling into traffic and taking it up to seventy. “So, why the rush?”
“You really need to ask?”
“I can tell you ditched your groom, and I hope you did it before the wedding. Care to explain the why?”
“It was before the wedding.” She sat back and blew out a breath while holding her ring-free hand up.
“And?”
“I’d rather not talk about it.” She dropped her hand. “So, where are we headed?”
“A private community, but I can’t take you there. They’re funny about outsiders. I’ll drop you in Rapid City, and you can catch a bus to anywhere in the country your heart desires.”
“Are they a cult or something?” Her nose twitched like a rabbit’s, and he couldn’t stop from smiling.
“Or something.”
I like bunny.
Down, boy.
She nodded like she understood, but said nothing further. Her eyes closed and, moments later, her heart rate slowed as she drifted off to sleep.
It sucked he had to drop her off, as the woman could’ve been the poster model for his taste. Tall, lean, but stacked. She had blonde curly hair the color of moonlight, more ringlets than waves, and her eyes reminded him of the forest, deep, mysterious, an evergreen hue. Even her voice had a sexy grit to it. And he’d be willing to bet she had some long legs under the acres of fabric filling his Hummer. Shit, what he wouldn’t do to have those lanky stalks wrapped around him as he drove into her.
A damn shame he couldn’t keep her. He had to hit Los Lobos before Hot Springs. No choice with the perishable load he carried. Taking her onto pack land was a huge no-no. Mates only. His alpha would have his balls if he broke the rules, and he’d already pressed his luck after the clown incident.
He had a great sense of smell. Not only could he scent she was fully human, but he picked up the trouble lingering on her, and it sure as hell didn’t turn him off. This gal did things to his libido he hadn’t experienced in a long while, making him wonder if a trip up to Sturgis with the load of burger would be what the doctor ordered. Forget Gee, and go north. Tierney didn’t know where he headed after Rapid City anyway. In Sturgis, he could unload the cargo at any one of the merchants who had a food truck, get a little tail on the side, and nobody would be the wiser he’d been screwing around with a human. Well, except Gee, since he’d miss the burger he’d ordered, and Felix had happened to mention moments before he picked up a woman in distress. He’d settle down. Eventually. In a century or so.
Do you really believe that? The little devil who sat on his shoulder, otherwise known as his wolf, kindly reminded him of the last time someone in his family pissed off Gee. A bear never forgets, or was that an elephant? Didn’t matter. Gee still held him responsible for his great-grandfather’s bargain last century sometime. How old was the bear, anyway?
Yeah, he so wasn’t going to Sturgis or anywhere with this woman.
Plus, tonight, with the full moon, he really needed to run, reconnect with his wolf. Anywhere outside of Los Lobos would be too dangerous, especially with all the traffic into the Black Hills for Bike Week. He might live in Hot Springs, but when the moon waxed full, he always came back to run with the pack. Never missed it. But he could make an exception for….
He glanced over and noticed the bruise under her eye. A low growl rumbled in his chest. No wonder she’d skipped out on her wedding. His grip tightened on the steering wheel, and his knuckles cracked. Good thing the bastard didn’t come after her.
He’d likely knock his teeth down his throat so he’d have to suck baby food through a straw for the rest of his life. Any man who hit an angel like her didn’t deserve a second chance. Maybe, before they parted ways, he could get the name of the bastard who gave her the black eye? He grinned. Yeah, sure would make his wolf happy. If he couldn’t get his frustrations out one way, he’d get them out another.
The guy would never lay his hands on another woman.
A few hours later, they pulled up to a filling station in Rapid City. Felix reached over and gave her a gentle nudge.
The moon sat high in the sky, and his wolf had already begun to mentally pace. He hated to kick her off the ride, but he had no choice. She was human, and he couldn’t bring her into Los Lobos, especially not on a full moon. Bad, bad idea. Drew would kill him, and the boss’s pack enforcer would have his hide tacked to the side of the new community hall. Even so, he couldn’t say she didn’t tempt him.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she smiled. God, did she tempt him. “Where are we?” She sat up and stretched, her body straining against the tight fabric.
Really, really tested his willpower.
“Rapid City.”
“Oh.”
“This filling station is open all night. You should be able to snag a cup of coffee at the doughnut shop inside and maybe find someone to give you a ride to wherever it is you’re going, or catch the bus at seven.” He nodded at a schedule tacked to the side of the building.
She nodded in agreement, but the look in her eyes said something different. She didn’t want to par
t company.
But part company, they must. Damn.
You could get a room for the night.
Not happening. I got shit to do.
Yeah, her, his wolf chuckled.
“I’m gonna fill up the tank. Nice meeting you.” Felix stared at her, unable to look away.
“I don’t have any money.”
Right. He pulled out his billfold and flipped it open, extracting five hundred dollars. “This should get you wherever you need to go.”
“I can’t take your money.”
“Take it. I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight if you don’t. Come on.”
“Fine, but I’m paying you back. Let me get your address.”
“No.”
“No?”
“You’re not paying me back.”
“I can’t accept this, then.”
“All right. When you go to pay me back, give it to a local homeless shelter or something. Pass it on. Okay?”
She nodded and tucked it into the front of her dress, drawing his gaze down where he’d tried to avoid looking in the first place. Felix blew out a breath and turned to focus at lights on the interstate in the distance.
What the hell is wrong with you? I’m a wolf, not a saint. You’re going to let her get away without sampling the goods? Really?
Zip your yap. She’s a nice girl. Doesn’t need to get mixed up with a wolf.
Says who? He turned back to her to look her in the eyes. “You good?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
Felix jerked his gaze away and shoved his hand in his hair, raking it back. “So....”
“I know. I need to get out. Thanks for the ride.” She unfastened her seat belt and gathered her dress, throwing the door open. “I guess this is good-bye.”
“Good luck with everything.”
She hopped out without looking back and headed into the station. Felix watched her go, the gentle sway of her hips, the way she held her head high. He itched to run after her, but instead he jumped out, swiped his debit card, and began to pump gas. After filling up, he headed in to the restroom. The next stop would be Los Lobos. A good stretch of road lay between here and there, and then, when he got onto pack land, no more than ancient logging trails to drive on, hence the off-road vehicle. Might as well stretch while he could.
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