by Brenda Bryce
Over and over, she pushed her fingers inside herself. She knew Kyle watched, and that heightened her enthusiasm. He was running his hands along the inside of her thighs from knee to groin, and that felt good, too. Her breath was coming in harsh pants, and she couldn’t contain the moans.
She had her eyes closed tight when Kyle removed the hand that was rubbing her clit and replaced it with his mouth. Sucking the little bundle of nerves into his mouth, he rubbed it with his tongue, and she exploded.
Gripping the back of his head with both hands, she pulled him into her and tightly clenched the fingers he inserted into her. Keening sounds erupted from her, and her hips rotated hard into his mouth and hand. She screamed as she came again.
Kyle licked the juices from her as she slowly relaxed. Then he crawled up her body and kissed her mouth. As she registered her own taste on his mouth, he slammed into her, full length.
Lannie’s body clutched his tightly, and her arms wrapped around his back, pulling him into her.
She whispered his name when he began the thrust and retreat that would bring them both to climax again. Lifting her hips against his, she wished it would go on forever. But all too soon they were both tossed over the apex and the universe exploded.
Quietly, she lay under Kyle’s strong, hot body and breathed. Just breathed. His scent was everywhere. Even if she had wanted to, she wouldn’t have been able to avoid it. Since she didn’t have an urge to avoid it, though, she sucked it in gratefully. There would be no getting away from him now. She knew there would be no way that she could survive without him. And she wasn’t just thinking about needing him to return her to humanity, either. His scent alone was addictive. She needed it. Damn it.
Lannie slowly, painfully, lifted a hand and punched him in the back.
“Hey!” He grunted. “What the hell was that for?”
“This is all your fault.”
He leaned up on his elbows. “What is?”
“Everything, anything. I haven’t figured that out yet, but when I do, you are in deep trouble.” She sighed and her eyes drifted closed. She’d had a long day with no rest. Now she was completely worn out.
“Woman logic.” He huffed. “Damned woman logic. Enough to make a man insane. I suppose I can live with it as long as I have you.”
Lannie muttered, “Man logic.” Then dropped off to sleep.
Kyle pulled away from her and lifted her into his arms. He carried her into his bedroom and carefully laid her on the bed. Running a hand through her hair, pushing it out of her face, he kissed her on her forehead. “Sleep, sweetheart. I’ll take care of you now.”
She grunted, rolled onto her side, pulled her knees toward her chest, and placed her hands under her face. He left the room and pulled the door nearly shut, only leaving it open enough to hear if she woke.
Returning to the living room, he grabbed up his pants and stepped into them. He began putting the room to rights when the high, sharp trill of his cell phone caught his attention.
“Yes?”
The sound of Donovan’s voice brought him to immediate attention.
“I’m at your mate’s home.” Donovan began without preliminaries. “The front window has been shattered from the outside. The living room is covered in glass, and small amounts of blood. Also, there are deep grooves in the front door. Claw marks.”
“Lannie’s blood. She cut herself on the broken glass when she transformed,” Kyle informed him.
“Right. Thought so. There is a scent outside. Werewolf. Male. I don’t recognize the scent, but I don’t know many of our kind personally.”
“Understood. Remember that scent, Donovan. If you come across it, bring that person to me. Alive. Intact? I’ll leave that to your discretion.” Having given his orders, he disconnected and tossed the cell phone down on the table.
* * * * *
He watched the creature circle the house and then enter through the broken window. The bitch must have made it to safety and ratted him out.
Being downwind from the hunter was the safest place for now. He was going to have to avoid that one. He was a trained assassin and was sneaky and secretive. While the traits were ones he admired, he didn’t want them turned his way.
The situation had gone tits-up. The alpha would have to be taken out along with his bitch.
The hatred he felt for the two of them consumed him. How dare they chase him off like he was a pup? He would teach them to respect him before they died.
Yes, he would show them. With the alpha out of the way, he would then take over the pack. It would be easy.
Turning from the sight of the hunter looking for clues he would never find, the wolf went in search of prey.
* * * * *
After calling the alpha, Donovan Vitello continued the search of the grounds. He would find the killer and fulfill his duty to the pack. Then he would retreat to his own lonely existence. No other of his kind would associate with him socially, for they might be his next assignment. Pack rules were strict for the safety of the entire species. Humans were physically unable to capture and remand werewolves to trial, so it was up to the pack to police itself.
The way of the werewolf was quick. You commit a crime, one that harms others, be they werewolf or human, the sentence was death. Normally, Donovan only hunted and brought the accused in for trial, and his work was completed. This case had a different feel, however, and he felt it wouldn’t end in trial. It wouldn’t make it that far.
Donovan let the grim thoughts fade away as he considered the new alpha female. He was glad they hadn’t called him in to hunt her. He had known his leader was searching for a human woman, but hadn’t known why until he had entered the sheriff’s office and smelled her scent. He had immediately known she had mated with Kyle Sylia. Instinctively, he had been drawn to pledge his oath of loyalty to her and had bared his nape by putting his head in her lap.
It was never a matter of who was stronger when a male bared his nape to a higher-ranking female. Males were still physically stronger than females, but females were the givers of life and so were treated with the utmost respect. As the alpha female would be the bearer and nurturer of the future leader, he would gladly give his loyalty to her in hopes that she would raise a strong and intelligent leader.
He left the house the same way he’d come in, through the broken window. Scenting the air, he wondered where his quarry had gone and vowed to catch him before he struck out at the alpha female again.
* * * * *
Lannie woke to an all-over ache that caused her to groan aloud. She lay very still and considered her options. Getting up and starting her day was one. Not the best one, because she knew that the second she moved, her whole body was going to revolt on her. She wanted to stay right where she was and not move a muscle for the next ten or fifteen years, but she had to use the restroom. Badly. She hadn’t gone the night before. Now the situation was urgent.
“Darn it.” Slowly, she flipped the covers off her body and slid one foot toward the edge of the bed.
“Whew! Made it.” She congratulated herself for the small feat.
Encouraged by the progress she’d made, she went for broke. Dangling one leg over the side of the bed, she slid the other to accompany it, rolled onto her side, and pushed up to a sitting position.
“I’m cooking with gas now.” Feeling proud of herself, she eased to her feet.
And careened in the direction where she hoped the bathroom was. She couldn’t afford an incorrect door choice now. She had to go.
Success! Lannie pushed the door shut behind her and fell onto the toilet. “Well, it’s better than falling into the toilet. Good thing the seat was down.” Most single guys, meaning guys without a woman to yell at them about it, never put it down and created havoc with female guests.
Having taken care of business, she eyed the shower/tub combo. Perfect!
Lannie filled the tub with extremely hot water and searched for and found a couple of fluffy, huge, dark-blue towels. Gues
sing a man as tall and muscular as Kyle would need maximum coverage, thus the oversized towels, she shrugged and set them within arm’s reach of the tub, then gingerly climbed into the water.
“Hot, hot, hot!”
Now able to imagine how a lobster felt entering a chef’s cooking pot, she eased into a stretched-out sitting position and leaned her head back onto the edge of the tub. She had to close her eyes and grit her teeth for a few seconds to get past the stinging sensation of the hot water hitting her wounds.
A long, audible, groaning sigh escaped her, and she relaxed completely.
A tapping on the bathroom door brought her out of her steam-induced daze.
“Lannie? Are you going to be long?”
“Yes.”
Kyle chuckled. “Thirty minutes and I’ll have breakfast ready.”
“An hour.”
“Forty-five minutes.”
“Done.”
His response caused her eyebrow to arch.
“I hear you laughing, Kyle. Shut up, and go away.” Lannie sighed and relaxed further into the water after she heard him leave.
She soaked until the water began to cool, and the smell of cooking meat caught the attention of her empty stomach. When her stomach let out a growl the size a wooly mammoth would have made, she hurried through washing and drying, then wrapped in the towel from underarms to knees, went in search of clothing.
Digging through drawers that were way too neat for a single man to have, she found a pair of silk boxers that she thought might fit her without ending up around her ankles. At least not without help that is. She laughed as she put them on and went to the closet.
She had always thought it sexy when a female character in a book wore a man’s dress shirt, so she searched out a good one. Not white. White had a tendency to accumulate unidentifiable stains. She settled for a light blue one.
The thing covered her completely, all the way down to her knees. Lannie decided that she was wearing enough for decency’s sake, and since she had accomplished her goal of making a thorough mess of Kyle’s drawers and closet, just to mess with his head, followed her nose toward the wonderful smells that were enticing her tummy to holler.
He was standing at the stove with a towel tucked into his low-slung, very faded jeans. She hadn’t even known he owned something so casual. He was more the khaki-slacks style. Jeans were a nice change, especially the way they conformed to the shape of his butt.
Sheesh, turn her into a werewolf and she became an animal.
She giggled and covered her mouth with her hand. Kyle turned and saw her standing just inside the kitchen and waved the spatula that was in his hand toward the well-laid table.
“Sit, eat.”
“Woof,” she commented dryly, then did as he commanded. “Looks great.”
She scooped eggs, sausage, ham, and some fried potatoes onto her plate and reached for the toast. Mouth full, she asked him what the plan for the day was.
Kyle glanced at her and shook his head. “Well, after you finish eating me out of house and home, we’re going for a walk. You’ll need the exercise to work off breakfast. After that, we’ll meet with the sheriff and Donovan to report officially what happened last night.”
“’Kay,” she mumbled around a piece of ham. The plans they’d made sounded good to her. She looked around, “What, no coffee?”
“Sorry, I don’t keep it around. Have some milk.” He placed the glass of milk in front of her, then joined her at the table. Snatching from under her reaching fingers what little was left of breakfast, he ate.
She didn’t care. She was starving, and since she didn’t have to make it, she was going to satisfy the cravings. After she had eaten her fill, they zipped through the cleanup by working together. Kyle finished dressing and found more clothes for Lannie. Despite her objections to changing out of his dress shirt, they were soon headed out the door.
* * * * *
Lannie wondered what it was about the police station. Nothing ever seemed to change. Of course, it had only been a few days since she had first seen it, but she wondered if it would look the same in ten, twenty, a hundred years from now. Probably. Why she expected it to change, she didn’t know.
They’d been escorted back to the sheriff’s office, and after a perfunctory greeting, settled into chairs facing the desk.
“I need you to fill out a statement and sign it,” Ross instructed Lannie as he set the required paperwork in front of her.
She got busy while the men discussed safety measures.
It had been pretty much agreed upon by everyone but Lannie that she would be staying with Kyle, when they were interrupted by a knock at the door.
One of the deputies stuck his head into the room and called for Sheriff Kendricks.
He stepped out of the office and was soon back, opening desk drawers, pulling out his revolver, checking ammo, and putting the weapon in the holster at his hip.
“We have another body. I’m going to check it out,” Ross said while heading for the door.
“I would like permission for my man to go as well. He has a good nose and will be discreet.”
“Good idea.” Ross gave the location he was headed for and hollered orders at his deputies and other staff.
Kyle called Donovan and passed on the information, then escorted Lannie out of the station.
Walking down the sidewalk in the middle of town, Kyle kept an eye out for danger. The streets were deserted so watching wasn’t difficult. Nowhere looked like a ghost town. Everyone was staying indoors. The sour smell of fear permeated the whole district. Only the occasional curtain twitch suggested life.
Lannie was feeling creeped out. She could feel eyes following her down the street, and it was causing her skin to crawl.
“What’s going on, Kyle?” Lannie pressed closer to him, uncomfortable.
“They’re scared. They know there’s a killer loose, and they would prefer not to be the next victim.”
“Well, I’m with them. I don’t want to be the next victim, either. And the scary part is that I know he’s already after me.”
Kyle put his arm around her waist and pulled her close to his side.
“Since I’m not going to let you out of my sight, not even for a minute, he isn’t going to get another chance at you.”
He sounded strange, so Lannie looked up at him and blinked. His eyes were changing from human shaped eyes, to the circular shape of the wolf.
She smacked him hard on the chest. “Do you mind not changing in the middle of town, please? How would I ever explain it? The people who are peeking out of their windows will call the pound.”
Kyle laughed pulling her closer still. “Wouldn’t you bail me out of doggie jail?”
Humming, she cocked her head. “Maybe. But I might wait till after they neuter you. Perhaps then you won’t be so derned bossy.”
Groaning loudly at the thought, he lifted her and pulled her flush against his body.
“You would get rid of this, for spite?” Rubbing his growing erection against her, he held her off the ground.
“Let me go, Kyle. We’re in the middle of the street, and someone is going to see us.” She was looking around, trying to catch someone looking at them.
“I don’t mind if everyone knows that you are mine. Why should you?” His deep voice rumbled in her ear as he nibbled on her neck.
“Well, let’s just strip and do it in the middle of the street. You want to act like an animal, well, let’s go for it.” He was making her mad by belittling her sense of propriety.
Kyle laughed and gave her another squeeze, then dropped her to her feet. “While I’m sure the neighborhood would love that, I’m not willing to share the enjoyment of looking at your glorious body. So I guess we go home and do it like animals.”
Lannie couldn’t help herself. She burst into laughter and shook her head. Walking away seemed the best answer, so she headed off.
Catching up with her, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her
into his side. They continued to stroll back in the direction of his house, speaking, but not saying anything important.
She felt when Kyle stiffened. He stopped walking and, using the arm he had around her, halted her as well.
“What? What’s the matter?” Lannie looked around, trying to see what he did.
“Shh. I thought I heard something, and now I’m smelling blood.” Kyle murmured quietly. He kept his eyes focused in the direction the odor emanated from and searched for any movement. He muttered a curse and wished that Lannie were somewhere safe and not out in the open where it would be harder to protect her if they were attacked.
Lannie, he noticed, was searching just as diligently as he was. Her nose was in the air, and she was sniffing for all she was worth.
“Aren’t I supposed to have super smelling abilities now? I mean, I read about werewolves all the time, and they always have these great noses. All I smell is grass and you.”
Without taking his attention from the surrounding area, he started walking again, pulling his mate along with him. He wanted her inside, safe, as quickly as possible. “You will learn how to use your senses, but you must give them time. It only takes practice.”
“Interesting, but ...”
“Lannie, darling, I will answer all your questions, but let me concentrate on this now. Please.”
Lannie subsided and hurried along beside him. She was muttering that she supposed if she had to learn to walk in wolf form, she would have to learn to use her extra-strong senses as well. “How come nothing ever comes easy?”
They walked quickly back to his house, and once inside, Kyle checked the locks on the doors and windows to make sure they were secure. He wished he could confront the werewolf who dared to threaten his mate, but for her safety, he would not leave her alone.
They’d been followed to the house. He had no doubts about that. The acrid smell of a recent kill had accompanied them home. Whoever was doing the killing had stayed just out of sight, but hadn’t bothered staying upwind, and Kyle could smell, if not the killer, then the blood. The individual’s scent had been overpowered by the metallic odor of the kill, so he couldn’t tell who it was. He was either a very stupid canine or a very smart one. Kyle was betting on smart, to be safe. The creature was also not terribly brave.
