“I see.”
“I’d been working in law enforcement there, so I decided to do the same thing here. I didn’t want to have my own pack. To me, this job and the men in my department represent my pack.”
“Speaking of law enforcement, have you found out anything else about the purse that I had with me?”
“The purse, and the cell phone, were stolen. They were left in an unlocked car outside of a restaurant in a small town in Wyoming, off I-25. You likely took I-25 to get here.”
She shook her head, bewildered. “I do not remember taking them. Still…” she frowned. “I feel like…I don’t know. Almost as if I were headed here on some kind of incredibly important mission, a mission where the ends justified the means. I just don’t know why I would have taken someone else’s car and purse.”
“Is it possible that you were afraid that someone was following you?” Steele asked.
She considered that. “I do think I wanted to avoid detection,” she said. “I don’t know why. I wish I could remember exactly what happened yesterday, when I started driving here. If I could call Katherine, that would at least give me a clue. Maybe I said something to her before I left. In fact, she tried to call me on that cell phone, the one that I probably stole, so I must have called her from that phone.”
She saw a look of discomfort on Steele’s face. She suspected that he really didn’t want to hold her prisoner, and that he felt as if he had little choice.
“Fine,” she sighed. “I’m trying to look at it from your perspective. I know how most humans would react if they found out about you, and I know that your people can’t just take my word for it that I would never say anything. I’m not saying I’m happy about it, mind you.”
She went back to eating her stew.
After dinner, she insisted on helping him clear the dinner plates. She had been raised with manners, after all.
Was it wrong that she was enjoying his company, just being close to him? She loved the way that he looked at her, the way he smelled, the sexy low rumble of his voice.
Of course, she’d acted like a shameless hussy the last time she’d been with him. She winced at the memory of her behavior. “So, you must think I’m really a skank, the way I behaved when I thought you were imaginary,” she said as she set the dishes in the sink.
He had just fetched a tub of vanilla ice cream from the freezer. He set it down on the sink and peeled off the top.
“No, not at all. It made me like you even more.”
She turned to stare at him. “It did?” she said, startled.
“Yes, it did. I wanted nothing more than to please you,” he said earnestly. “Having you tell me what to do took all the guess work out of it.”
She felt heat ripple through her, and an urgent pulsing between her legs. “Really. And what do you want now?”
“You. More than anything else in the world.” He was staring into her eyes, and as he said it, she knew he was telling the truth.
It was crazy that she still wanted him. He was holding her prisoner. Oh, and he wasn’t even human. Despite that, she felt a burning need for him roaring through her body, crackling down her nerve endings like electricity.
She really could tell him anything. She sensed it. He’d never judge her. Not the way she looked, not the rolls on her waistline, not her broad soft thighs, not even how much she loved to have sex with him.
“So you liked it when I told you what I wanted?” she said, her voice gone husky with desire. “Because right now, I really want you to find a creative way to use this ice cream.”
“Take all of your clothes. Now.” His voice was a deep, sexy rumble, and his eyes gleamed with hunger for her.
Mesmerized, she peeled her clothing off and dropped it, piece by piece, on the kitchen floor.
“Bedroom,” he growled.
She followed him into the bedroom. He pointed to his bed, which had a red and black flannel blanket, red and black pillows, and a rough-hewn oak frame.
“Lie down.” The rough command in his voice made her knees go weak.
She obeyed, settling onto the soft flannel. He took a spoonful of ice cream and dribbled it on her breast. She gasped at the cold sensation. Then he bent over her and lapped it off, the warmth of his mouth chasing the cold away. She shivered at the delicious sensation that rippled through her body.
He spooned on more ice cream onto her other breast, the cold sending little thrilling shocks right down to her toes. His warm tongue swept over the ice cream, swirling over it, and then closed over her nipple, sucking it and then tugging it gently.
He dribbled the ice cream in a trail down her stomach and followed it with his warm, hungry mouth, sucking and licking it.
“Oh. Yes,” she moaned. “Don’t stop.”
“Your wish is my command.”
He reached the cleft between her legs, and spooned more ice cream on to her, dribbling it across her heated flesh. The cold made her gasp. She bit back a whimper as he set the tub of ice cream on the floor and then knelt down between her legs.
He spread her pussy lips open and ran his tongue along the line of dribbled cream. Heat swirled inside her as he sucked it off, then moved on to her clit, laving it with his tongue.
The pressure built up inside her as his tongue caressed her, but just as she felt like she was falling off the precipice, he moved away. She let out a whimper. “Please,” she begged. “I need to come. I want you so much.”
“Let’s come together. I love it when we do that,” he said.
We. He used the word we. It wrapped around her like a strong embrace.
He shucked his pants and then knelt between her legs. He reached up, picking up each of her legs and placing them on his shoulders, and then pressed his hard cock between her pussy lips. Then he pushed into her, forcing his huge erection into her tight, slick tunnel.
“Oh,” she gasped. “Oh.”
He began pumping his hips, moving in and out. She felt the heat building up inside her again, and he pumped harder, slamming into her.
Each thrust sent hot rivers of pleasure rushing through her body, filling her like molten lava. He looked into her eyes as he thrust, his own eyes glazed over with desire. One of his arms circled her legs, holding them in place, and the other hand moved down, between her legs, caressing the swollen bud of her clitoris.
“Come with me,” he panted. “I need you. Oh, God.”
He began stroking her in time to his thrusts, and that finally sent her over the edge. Her body shook and the muscles inside her spasmed, squeezing and rippling on his cock. A series of explosions rocked her, each one shooting delicious sensation through every nerve in her body, until she finally lay gasping for breath and drenched with sweat.
He slid out of her slowly, reluctantly, and she let out a tiny whimper of protest.
“I forgot how good we are together. Ready for round two?” he panted, eyes still glazed.
She was about to say hell, yes, but, as if right on cue, the doorbell rang, loud and long and insistent.
Chapter Ten
“Hold on! I’m coming!” Steele bellowed.
He quickly pulled on his clothes. Roxanne ran into the kitchen to grab her clothes and dashed back into the bedroom as he went to open the front door.
Chief Warden Loren Redthorne stood there, along with a wolf shifter that Steele didn’t recognize.
They’d told him they were coming tomorrow morning, so he was annoyed to see them there that evening.
He stood in his doorway, letting the fur ripple across his face, and his eyes went wolf. His Alpha demanded it; he couldn’t just let these men muscle their way in without making a statement.
Loren frowned at him, and his eyes briefly gleamed, changing from brown to gray and then back again.
“Hello, Steele. This is Warden Jerrico Redthorne,” Loren said. “We need to talk to you about the human.”
“Her name is Roxanne, and she’s completely blameless in all of this,” Steele said, with a
hint of a growl rumbling up from inside him.
“I understand that. However, I have been dispatched here by the Elders because we have a number of concerns. We’ve never had a case before where a shaman failed with a mind wipe, and the fact that it happened sixteen months ago is a major issue. We need to know if she’s discussed this with any other humans.”
“Are you addressing the issue with the Silver Forest pack as well?” Steele stepped aside to let them in.
“Most definitely,” Loren said. “There’s an Elder and a Warden there today, talking to them. Their shaman has been removed from his position, he will never do another mind-wipe, and we’re finding them a new shaman, in case a situation like this ever comes up again.”
They followed Steele in to the kitchen, where Roxanne, now dressed, waited for them. Loren nodded politely to Roxanne.
“Ma’am,” he said to Roxanne.
She nodded back, looking at them cautiously.
Roxanne sat down on one of the stools by his kitchen counter, and Steele sat down next to her. He wanted to grab her hand, to reassure her, but he didn’t want to make his feelings for her too obvious to the Wardens.
“This man has some questions for you,” he told her. “His name is Loren Redthorne. He’s in law enforcement, but a different branch than I am. They’re like federal law enforcement, except for wolf shifters. They oversee legal issues for all the wolf packs across the country.”
She looked at Loren, her expression still hesitant. “I see. What do you want to know?”
“I’d like you to tell us everything that you remember, from the moment you first saw Steele,” Loren said.
Steele sat and listened as she told him about the accident, about how Steele had pulled her from the car and taken her back to the cabin, and how she’d seen him turn into a wolf that night.
She didn’t mention the fact that they’d had sex together, and Loren didn’t probe too deeply into it.
She did tell him about how she’d overheard him and the Silver Forest shaman talking, and how Steele had told the shaman where he was from. He’d invited the shaman to stop by if he was ever in Colorodo, and given him directions to Timber Valley.
So that was how she’d found him. Steele silently cursed his own foolishness.
“I didn’t know she was listening, but even so, I thought she’d forget,” Steele said. “I should have been more careful.”
Loren nodded. “Yes, you should have.”
He questioned Roxanne further, and she recounted how she’d gone back home, and then started having strange bouts of amnesia.
“How many humans did you tell that you’d seen Steele turn into a wolf?” Loren asked.
She looked him right in the eye. “None.”
He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “No offense, but I know that you’re lying.” Steele let out a low growl, and fur bristled up on his face and hands.
“Excuse me?” Roxanne said defensively.
“You told Steele that at some point you went to the hospital to get a CAT scan and an MRI. You must have told the doctors there.”
“No, actually, I didn’t. I told them that I kept having blank patches in my memory, but I didn’t tell them that I’d seen a man pull a car door off with his bare hands, or that I’d seen a man turn into a wolf. I was afraid that they’d think I was crazy, which is also the reason I didn’t tell anybody else about it.”
Steele had the uneasy feeling that Loren was right, and she was lying, but he didn’t want to call her out about it in the Wardens.
Who could she have told? And what would that person have done with the knowledge? He’d question her once they left. He suspected that at least she would have told her best friend Katherine.
“Are you sure?” Loren asked.
“Asking me again isn’t going to get me to change my answer.” Roxanne met his gaze challengingly. “I have no reason to want your people to come to harm. I told Steele, and I meant it, that if I’d known what he was, I would never have told anyone.”
“It’s too great a risk for us to take.” Loren gave her an appreciative glance. “Although you’re certainly an attractive woman. If you were here, I’d want to ask you out.”
A growl of rage ripped from Steele’s throat, and before he could stop himself, he’d leaped through the air in wolf form and knocked Loren off his chair. Loren shifted too, as did Jerrico, and for a minute, all three wolves were snarling and snapping at each other.
Then Loren rolled over and exposed his belly, signaling submission. All three wolves turned human again. Loren climbed to his feet.
Roxanne was standing halfway across the kitchen now, staring at them wide-eyed.
“What the heck was all that for?” she cried out.
“So it’s true,” Loren said to Steele. “You were involved with the human.”
Steele bristled with rage. Loren had deliberately provoked him to get a reaction, and Steele had fallen for it.
“That’s a dangerous game you’re playing,” Steele growled.
“We need to talk.” Loren’s eyes were snapping with fury. “Outside.”
All three men were now naked. They pulled the tattered remains of their clothes back on, while Roxanne stood with her arms folded, watching them warily.
Steele glanced at Roxanne. “Do not say a single word to him,” he said to her, nodding his head at Jerrico.
He followed Loren out of the room, into his living room. Loren pulled the kitchen door shut behind him, and then spun around to glare at Steele.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Loren demanded. “Why would you get involved with a human?”
“Because I really, genuinely fell for her, from the moment I laid eyes on her.” Steele met his glare with one of his own.
“I can see that, but have you taken leave of your senses? You know that it’s hopeless.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. I’ve spent sixteen months living that reality every day.”
“It’s affecting your behavior. You’re more concerned about her wellbeing than you are about ours,” Loren accused.
“No, I’m not.” Steele bristled at that. “I brought her here, and will be holding her here, until Cody arrives to wipe her memory properly. She wanted to leave. I told her that she couldn’t. I am doing what needs to be done to protect our people.”
“I don’t know, Steele. I see how protective you are of her.” Loren shook his head disapprovingly.
There was no point in denying it. “Those are my instincts, and I can’t help my instincts.”
Suddenly, coming from the kitchen, he heard the sound of crashing furniture, and then Roxanne’s voice coming from the kitchen, distressed and fearful.
“I can’t remember. I don’t remember. Who are you? Where am I?”
Steele rushed towards the kitchen. Loren tried to block him, but he shoved him out of the way and burst through the kitchen door.
Roxanne was standing, staring around her, wide eyed with panic. “Who are you? I know you,” she said to Steele. “I’ve seen you before. Who are you?”
Steele whirled on Jerrico, fur rippling on his face and hands. Roxanne let out a scream of terror and huddled in the corner.
“What did you do?” he bellowed. “You’re a shaman! You should have told me! Were you messing with her head?”
“I was attempting to find out what she knows, because she is clearly lying to us,” Jerrico snarled, snout thrusting forward.
Rage boiled through Steele, both at Jerrico and Loren, and himself. Loren had deliberately led him out of the room so Jerrico could try to get into Roxanne’s head, and Steele should have known better than to leave her. Whatever Jerrico had done had just screwed things up for her all over again.
He whirled on Loren, his fists clenched, claws shooting from his fingertips. “You had no right! You didn’t ask me!”
“We don’t have to ask you! Warden law supercedes local law!” Loren barked at him.
Roxanne was trembling violently, her
face white. She clutched at the table, looking as if she were about to be sick.
They’d hurt his woman.
Steele went blind with rage, and shifted. His fangs shot from his snout, and all the colors melted into tones of black, white and gray, and his clothes fell away from his body.
He lunged at Loren, knocking him flying. Jerrico shifted and launched himself at Steele.
Roxanne grabbed a cast iron frying pan, ran across the room, and swung it at Jerrico, knocking him off Steele. Jerrico staggered, dazed, as Steele and Loren rolled on the floor.
Suddenly there were more snarls and growls tearing through the air. Dash was there, running through the house in wolf form, and he also launched himself at Loren, snapping and snarling at him. Jerrico was stumbling, trying to get his bearings. Roxanne backed away, clutching the frying pan in front of her chest.
A silvery gray female lynx ran into Steele’s kitchen. It was Isadora, and she had handcuffs dangling off of one leg. She hissed at Loren, crouching low, and an ugly feline growl rumbled up from her throat. She swiped at him several times with her claws extended like long, curved daggers, and Loren froze where he crouched, his eyes moving back and forth between his opponents.
After a minute of growling and hissing and snarling, everyone shifted back to their human form. Roxanne’s eyes were almost bugging out of her head.
“What are you?” she cried out. “Where am I? How did I get here?”
Jerrico groaned, rubbing his head.
“You son of a bitch,” Steele growled. “I should rip your throat out. You made it worse! She had her memory back and she was fine! Who knows what you’ve done to her now?”
“That’s because that rank amateur from the Silver Forest pack totally screwed up her head! I could see inside there. He got things all tangled up,” Jerrico snapped at him. He walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a frozen pack of peas and placed it on his head. “Your girlfriend packs a mean wallop.”
“Your girlfriend is human? That is so bad-ass,” Isadora said admiringly. Figures she’d approve, Steele thought; always the rebel.
“I’m your girlfriend?” Roxanne said wonderingly, and it made Steele’s heart ache, because he wanted it to be true so badly.
Hard As Steele (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (Timber Valley Pack) Page 7
