Daylen’s brows drew together. “Part of what process?”
“It causes us both to lose are heads when we’re near each other.”
“What is this it you keep referring to?”
“The mating urge. Now sit down so I can give the explanations you want.”
She snorted. “The mating urge, huh? I would say that would be an apt explanation of what just took place on my hallway floor. It had a whole lot to do with pure, simple lust.”
Jager sighed when Daylen made no move to sit down next to him. “That’s just the start of it. Are you going to sit down or not?”
Daylen gave him a hard look. “How can I trust you not to touch me again?”
He picked up his sword. “I swear on my sword, which is very near and dear to me, that I won’t touch you while we talk. Unless you want me to, that is.”
It took a few seconds, but in the end, Daylen gave a nod and moved to sit beside him on the couch. She made sure there was good deal of space between them.
“See, that wasn’t so hard,” he said.
“All right, talk. You can start off by telling me what you were doing sword fighting with that other guy in the alley. And why the hell do you carry a sword around in the first place?”
Jager knew if he wanted Daylen to understand about those things he would have to tell her about his being a werewolf first. Now that he actually got her to sit and listen to him, he was a little reluctant to tell her the truth. He didn’t think he would have to worry about Daylen running from him in fright. She was too tough for that, but there was a good chance she wouldn’t want to accept what he truly was.
He turned on the couch to face Daylen. “I promised Roxie I would follow her rules, but right about now I want to say bugger them. There is something to be said about not giving you a choice.”
Daylen shook her head. “You’re losing me. Who is Roxie, and what choice am I supposed to make?”
“Roxie is a female my sister, brothers and I protect.”
A funny look passed across Daylen’s face. “A female? That sounds so—”
Flustered, Jager waved her question away. “Forget that. You don’t need to know about her right now. Look, I don’t know how to do this any other way but lay it all out on the table. I’m not known for being subtle.”
“Then spit it out already.”
Cursing Roxie and her damn rules, Jager said, “I’m a werewolf, and you are my mate. I knew the first time back in that alley when I smelled your scent. The mating urge has been riding me ever since. I want you as mine.”
Daylen blinked at him a few times then burst out laughing. “As a cop, I’ve seen a lot of weird things, but seeing a real werewolf isn’t one of them. Though I met a whacked out druggie once who liked to howl at the full moon and pretend he was about to change into a creature who hungered to kill.”
Jager scowled. “I’m not some whacked out druggie. I’m truly a werewolf, and you are my mate. That’s why you can’t resist my touch.”
He watched Daylen slowly bring herself back under control, though a smile hovered on her lips. “Come on, Jager, a werewolf? You can do better than that.”
“I’m not making it up.”
Daylen snickered. “Maybe I should go look out the window and see if there is a full moon tonight. I always say it brings out the crazies.”
Starting to get a little annoyed that Daylen would laugh in his face when he’d told her the truth, Jager stood. It was obvious she would never believe him unless he gave her some kind of proof. Then proof she would get.
Not giving Daylen any kind of warning, he reached for the magic inside him to make the shift from his human form to his wolf form. All humor drained from Daylen’s face as he jumped up on the couch and put his nose an inch away from hers.
“Holy shit!” She quickly shifted away from him. “You’re a wolf,” Daylen said in a quiet voice. “And you’re the wolf I locked in the bathroom this morning.”
Jager nodded his lupine head. At least Daylen had recognized him in his wolf form.
But the way she was staring at him, with fear and shock flitting across her face, he wasn’t sure if this had been a smart move on his part.
Daylen pushed herself back into the corner of the couch. When he followed, she practically leaned backwards over the arm to get away from him. “You can understand what I’m saying?”
Once again, Jager moved his head up and down. He then let out a whine and tried to put his head under Daylen’s hand so she would pet him. All that got him was a hand in the face as she roughly pushed him away.
She jumped off the couch. “No, no, no. I don’t think I can handle this.”
Realizing he was doing more damage than good the longer he stayed in wolf form, Jager shifted to his human one. He got off the couch and went to stand in front of Daylen.
She held out her hands to keep him away.
“You don’t have to be afraid. I would never hurt you. You’re my mate,” he said.
“Back up there. I’m not your mate. And, since you’re laying it out all on the table, I’m going to be truthful here. I seriously can’t see myself being mated to a freakin’
werewolf.” Daylen’s voice rose a couple octaves when she said those last two words.
“It isn’t as if we’ll have much choice in the matter. We were meant to be together. I know you’re my mate, and I’ll never be able to just walk away from you.”
“Well, you’re going to have to because I’m not tying myself, mated or whatever you want to call it, to you. Yes, I lust after you, but it doesn’t go beyond that. And now that I know what you are, the lust part just isn’t there anymore.”
Already having his nerves stretched thin from the mating urge riding him, Jager had reached the end of his tether. He lunged for Daylen, took her by the arms, and yanked her to him. He brought his mouth down to hers and kissed her until the lust she said was gone flared between them. The scent of her arousal swirled in the air, giving testament to the fact that Daylen wasn’t as unaffected by him as she wanted him to believe.
Jager continued to kiss her as he brought his hands down her arms and pulled them behind her back. He kept them shackled in one of his hands and lifted his head. He gave a grunt of satisfaction when he saw the glazed look in Daylen’s eyes.
Spinning her around, he kept his grip on her hands and walked her to her bedroom.
Once inside the room, he looked around until his gaze landed on her uniform belt hanging from the closet door handle. Going over to it, taking Daylen with him, he opened the pouch that held her handcuffs. He pulled them out and put the key to unlock them in his jeans’ pocket.
“What are you going to do with those?” Daylen asked as she eyed the handcuffs warily.
“Since you’re not going to make this easy on me, I’m going to play by my rules now.”
Jager then slapped the handcuffs on Daylen’s wrists and pulled her back out into the hallway. It was time for Plan B.
———
“Where the hell are you taking me?” Daylen asked as Jager pulled her down the hall in the direction of the front door. She tried to yank her arm out of his grasp, but with her arms cuffed behind her back, she couldn’t get the leverage she needed.
“I’m going to take you to my place and keep you there until you start to see reason.”
Daylen dug in her heels, which had no effect on Jager whatsoever. “That’s kidnapping, another criminal offense.”
Jager pulled her to a stop and turned her so she faced him. “Do I look as if I care? We’re mates. The sooner you admit that the better off both of us will be. I want you, you want me, so no more trying to get rid of me. It won’t work. Once you accept what we mean to each other, you’ll wish you’d never fought it.”
She couldn’t believe the audacity of the man. “For your information, I don’t want you.”
Jager shook his head. “Do I have to kiss you again to show you how wrong that statement is?”
No, she d
idn’t want him to kiss her again. She lost all will to resist when he did that.
When his mouth claimed hers, Daylen no longer cared that Jager was a werewolf, or that he could shift into a wolf. Even now, her body wanted to feel his lips and tongue again.
When she didn’t say anything, Jager gave a quick nod. “I didn’t think you’d want me to, but I’m not promising I’ll keep my lips to myself later.”
Daylen’s heart started to beat faster at the thought of Jager’s lips kissing every inch of her. God, she was losing it. Here she was handcuffed, about to be taken against her will to some place she didn’t know with a man who happened to be a werewolf, and all she could think about was how well Jager knew how to use his tongue.
Keeping his grip on her arm, Jager led her to the living room where he turned off the TV and all the lights. Before leaving the room, he scooped up his duster and sword. He then steered her toward the front entrance hallway. He snagged her house keys off the key rack that hung on the wall next to the door. Before he opened the front door, he got her to shove her feet into her running shoes that sat in front of the closet. For someone who was kidnapping her, Jager was taking his time to do everything someone would do if they were leaving the house for the rest of the night.
After he pulled the front door open, Jager walked her through it then closed and locked it behind them. Daylen looked at the neighboring houses as he led her toward the driveway where a new model black Camaro was parked. If one of her neighbors happened to be outside, all it would take would be one call for help and they would come running.
As if he knew what she had been thinking, Jager said, “Don’t even think about it. You can either walk nicely to my car, without kicking up a stink, or I can sling you over my shoulder and carry you there. I’m sure your neighbors would get an eyeful if I start fondling that shapely ass of yours. I wonder what their reaction would be, you being a cop and all.”
“Did anyone ever tell you you’re a fucking asshole?”
Jager chuckled. “Actually, I get that quite a lot. I have a reputation for saying whatever is on my mind, no punches pulled. It tends to piss some people off.”
“You think?” Daylen said sarcastically.
He chuckled again. “You’ll get used to it.”
Jager pulled open the Camaro’s passenger door and helped her inside. Once he had her settled on the seat, he strapped the seatbelt around her. Starting to feel what it must be like for the people she’d arrested and stuck cuffed into the back of her police cruiser, Daylen watched Jager walk around the front of the car and get into the driver’s side.
After he threw his duster and sword onto the backseat, he started the car and backed out of her driveway.
As she watched her house grow smaller in the side view mirror, Daylen decided she would bide her time. Once Jager took the handcuffs off, he was going to find out what a black belt in karate could do to a werewolf.
———
Daylen felt her jaw drop when Jager pulled onto a long drive of a house that could only be called a mansion. When he had driven across the Golden Gate Bridge and into Marin County, she’d known that there were some pretty swanky homes here, but Daylen hadn’t expected a werewolf to live in a place so rich. She really hadn’t thought of where Jager would live, but the mansion that loomed in front of the car was not what she had expected.
Before she could stop herself, she turned her head to look at Jager and said with wonder, “You live here?”
He smiled as he parked in front of a large garage. “Yeah, I live here along with the rest of my family.”
“How big is your family? This place is huge.”
“There are nine of us altogether. You’ll get to meet them all eventually. Not everyone will be home right now.”
Hearing that somebody besides her and Jager would be inside the mansion, Daylen started to get her hopes up that she would be able to get free. She had to think that once one of Jager’s family members saw her like this with her hands cuffed behind her back they would demand Jager release her.
Daylen kept her thoughts to herself as Jager got out of the car and walked around to her side. He undid the seatbelt and helped her out. With her upper arm held firmly in his, he guided her to the front door of the mansion.
Jager and she had just stepped inside the large foyer when a man started down the stairs that led to the upper level. Daylen found herself unable to take her gaze off him as he came down the stairs and then made his way toward them. He was just as tall as Jager, and just as exceptionally good-looking. And like Jager, from what she could see of it in his snug-fitting jeans and long sleeved t-shirt, his body seemed to be all muscle. He wore his dark blond hair on the long side with the ends touching the top of his shoulders. His brown eyes skimmed over her with interest.
When he reached them, he smiled in her direction. “Who do we have here?”
Jager pulled her closer to his side. “This is Daylen. Daylen this is my brother-inarms, Kye.”
“Under other circumstances, I would be happy to meet you,” Daylen said to Kye.
She then twisted around so he could see her handcuffed hands.
Instead of being shocked and demanding Jager let her go, Kye burst out into loud peals of laughter. In between, he said to Jager, “You’re so screwed. Once Roxie finds out about this she’s going take a shit fit on you.”
“She can rag me out as much as she wants,” Jager replied. “I did it her way, and it blew up in my face.”
Kye seemed to sober a bit at that, but laughter still lurked in his eyes. “You told her about what we are?”
Kye is a werewolf, too? Daylen hadn’t thought about Jager’s family being werewolves as well.
“I told her,” Jager said. “She reacted just about as well as Ansley did, not as bad, but close enough.”
At this point, Daylen had started to get fed up with Jager and Kye talking about her as if she wasn’t standing right in front of them. “Can the two of you stop talking about me? I am right here. And I’m sorry, but when someone suddenly changes into a wolf, how else am I supposed to act?” She turned to look at Kye. “And are you going to do nothing about this?” Daylen twisted around again and shook her hands at him.
“According to California Penal Code Section 207, the punishment for kidnapping is serving up to eight years in a state prison.”
Kye started to laugh again. “Yup, you can tell she’s a cop.”
“Well?” Daylen asked exasperatedly.
He shook his head and backed up a bit with his hands held palm out toward her.
“Sorry, but I’m not getting involved with this. I can see where Jager is coming from though. If I was in his shoes and my potential mate outright rejected me, I probably would do the same thing.”
“Plus Kye is smart enough to know I won’t tolerate another male interfering,” Jager said.
Daylen looked from Jager to Kye and back to Jager again. A look of understanding passed between the two men. She couldn’t believe Kye would do nothing to help her, but Daylen really wasn’t afraid of what Jager would do to her. If he had wanted to hurt her, he would have done it long before now. She was more annoyed with the fact that she had been so easily overpowered by him. It was a blow to her ego. Daylen broke out of her musings when Kye spoke to Jager.
“You’re going to break the last part of Roxie’s rule number two, aren’t you? You’re going to get carried away with the moment without giving a full explanation.”
Jager shrugged. “I’m already going to be in shit. I might as well completely bury myself.”
There the two of them went again, talking over her as if she wasn’t in the room.
“Would the two of you knock it off with acting like I’m not here? And, Kye, what do you mean about getting carried away with the moment?”
Kye gave her a knowing smile. “You’ll find out soon enough.” He gave her a wink then went to walk past her and Jager. “And Jager,” he said as he turned to walk backwards. “I wouldn’
t hold off doing it for too long. You’ve got her here, and everyone else has gone out, so you’ll have the house to yourselves. I would use my time wisely before Saskia gets home. I doubt she’ll be too upset, but you know how close Roxie and her have become.”
Jager gave a nod. “Don’t worry. It’ll be a done deal by the time everyone comes home tonight.”
“Then I’ll leave you two to it.” He smiled at her. “And Daylen, welcome to the family.” Kye then turned back around and walked out the front door.
Chapter Eight
With a yank on Daylen’s arm, Jager got her moving again. The house sounded eerily quiet as he led her up the stairs. Usually, the mansion was filled with some kind of sound, considering how many people lived in it. But, for once, Jager was glad to have the house to himself. He was back on his own territory and knew, even if somebody did show up before he claimed Daylen as his mate, they wouldn’t bother them.
Once he got Daylen inside his bedroom, Jager closed and locked the door behind them. He threw his duster and sword on top of the large wooden chest that sat at the end of his bed before he turned Daylen to face him.
He reached up and gently brushed a lock of her reddish-brown hair off her forehead.
“I realize you’re probably pissed at me, but I knew you weren’t going to be reasonable about me being a werewolf, or the fact that we’re mates. You really didn’t leave me much choice.”
Daylen glared at him. “So you thought putting me in handcuffs and then kidnapping me would make me more reasonable? What planet are you from?”
Jager smiled. “Well, at least you aren’t cowering from me. I’d say we’re off to a pretty good start. I definitely wouldn’t want my mate to be afraid of me. Pissed, I can handle.”
“Good, because if you don’t take these damn cuffs off me soon I’m just going to get more pissed off.”
He wrapped his arms around Daylen and pulled her up against his body. “How about we turn that anger of yours into something else?” He pressed his rock-hard erection along her hip.
Daylen bit her bottom lip, as if she was fighting to hold back a moan, but the tell-tale scent of her arousal started to perfume the air. Jager smiled to himself. She may fight what he stirred inside her, but she obviously couldn’t stop her body’s reaction to his nearness. She only needed a bit more convincing that he was the male for her, then she would no longer fight what was between them.
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