The wolf backed up several feet from the wall and ran at it, leaping into the air to catch the railing above with his paws. Then he was over it, standing on the balcony. He heard voices within, raised in shouts. A woman—his woman—crying. His hackles rose on his shoulders and back. He lowered the door latch with his nose and crept inside the darkened room.
The room held faint traces of popcorn and beer; he rushed past sofas redolent with human and vampire scent to the door, which stood open. The light from a hallway shone like a beacon. He peered around the door into the hallway, raising his nose to catch scents in the air.
He smelled a woman with a muddied aroma—human-vampire-breeder. He knew he should follow it, but the other scent, his mate’s, was the one that pulled him down the hallway to an open area.
A railing stood between him and the large, hollow-sounding room below. The voices came from there. The overriding odor of several vampires set his heart beating faster—he peered between the rails and found his woman surrounded by large male vampires. They emanated anger and spoke harshly to his woman. Two human women, pregnant by their scent, and a vamp female hovered around the edges of the circle.
Then the male with hair the color of sunlight, lifted his face, his nose twitching. His gaze rose. He’d caught the wolf’s scent.
Letting a warning growl build in his throat, the wolf leapt over the railing to land at the feet of the woman.
Pia screamed as a large, black beast leapt into their midst. He whirled in front of her to face the group closing in around them, snarling, his long fangs bared in a feral grimace.
Weapons were drawn and aimed directly at his broad chest.
Oh God, Max! She threw herself over him, clasping her arms around his neck. “Don’t shoot him!”
“Stand away from him,” Joe yelled.
She held on to the bristling male wolf whose deep-throated growl raised goose bumps on her flesh. “You can’t shoot him. I won’t let you hurt him.”
“He’s here for Lily,” Joe said, his face darkening, his face transforming into a vampire’s mask.
Joe’s leer was every bit as frightening to Pia as the rumble emanating from the wolf’s chest. Still, she clung to Max.
“Damn you! He’ll kill her. Step aside, or I’ll shoot you both.”
“Joe, please,” Lily said, clutching his sleeve. “He’s surrounded anyway. Think!”
Joe hesitated. “Stand behind me, Lily. He’ll have to come through me.”
“Fine,” she said, slipping behind him. “Be a hero. Just hold your fire.”
Pia leaned close to Max’s twitching ears. “Please baby. Come back to me. I need you to change now.”
The wolf shuddered beneath her. The rumbling didn’t lessen.
“Max! I love you. If you don’t change, they’ll kill you. They’ll kill both of us. You’ll leave them no choice.” She hugged him hard. “Please, baby. Come back to me.”
The wolf grew silent, his body tensing at every restless movement made by the men, but Pia sensed he listened. Some part of his animal brain heard her.
“I love you, Max. I trust you.”
From one moment to the next, the wolf shuddered and fell to his haunches. He whimpered as he curled on his side, then the hair covering his body seemed to melt away, his body grew broader, his legs straightened. Pia let go of his neck and watched as his face morphed into the one she loved.
“Max,” she sighed and threw herself against his bare chest.
He rolled to his back taking her with him. “Pia.” His fingers swept away the tears she hadn’t known were on her cheeks. “I heard you crying,” he said, his voice sounding rough and husky. “Did I also hear you say you love me?”
Pia gave him a smile, knowing her lips trembled, but not caring he saw how much he meant to her. “Yeah. I’m crazy in love with you.”
His hand cupped the back of her head and forced her down. His lips captured hers with a “Max” kiss—hard, forceful, passionate.
Pia opened her mouth and groaned, taking his incredible tongue into her mouth. Her hands smoothed over his bare chest and upward to cup his face.
“This opens a whole new avenue for my research,” Lily murmured. “And I’m never going to take a vamp’s word for a wolf’s attributes again.”
“Lily! Just keep that damn tape measure in your pocket,” Joe grumbled.
“Joe, you’re such a spoilsport,” Emmy murmured.
Chapter Nine
‡
“This isn’t over,” Quentin said, his narrowed eyes telegraphing his deadly intent.
Max gently set Pia aside and sat up, leaning back on his hands so they could see they were occupied holding him up. “You’re right. I’m only the beginning of your problems.”
Joe stepped forward, his fists curled, but halted when his woman grabbed his sleeve. “And you’re going to tell us what they are?”
“I don’t blame you for thinking the worst,” Max said. “Yesterday, if I’d happened upon Lily, I might have killed her.”
Joe shook off Lily’s hand and took another step.
“He said might,” Pia interjected, scrambling to kneel at his side.
“What’s so different about today?” Dylan asked, his quiet tone not fooling Max a bit. The vampire’s body was tensed, ready to spring into action.
Max held himself perfectly still. No use exciting the men into opening fire. “I’ve had time to think about things—about what all this means.”
“What? You found God?” Joe snorted. “Gimme a break.”
Max stared at his old friend. “Something like that. I found love. And it didn’t matter if it would be returned. I knew despite what I’d been taught all my life, I couldn’t let Pia be harmed last night.”
Pia’s gasp drew his gaze. Her face was pale, and her eyes glistened with tears. “Max, you don’t have to say it.”
He gave her a crooked smile. “I do. I’m naked—”
“Mmm-hmm.”
All eyes turned to Emmy O’Hara.
Her blue eyes widened, and she lifted her hands in mock-surrender. “I’m just agreeing. I can’t help looking. The man’s made of muscle. Hell, he’s got muscles on his muscle.”
Dylan’s glare would have quieted a hard man, but Emmy just grinned.
Max ignored her, staring instead at Pia whose cheeks reddened. “What I mean is I’ve got nothing to hide behind, sweetheart. I’m in love with you. You’re my match in every way. You’re a vampire and I’m a werewolf, but we’re more alike than any two people I know.”
“Did you join the force just to kill vampires?” Quentin asked.
Max didn’t try to hide a smirk—the man got on every last one of his nerves. “Mostly.”
“Well at least he’s honest,” Quentin murmured. “Stupid, considering who has a bead on him, but honest.”
“Still doesn’t explain what he’s doing here,” Joe said.
“We all know why I came.” Max nodded beyond Joe’s shoulder at Lily. “Your wife, Joe, is a magnet for werewolves.”
“And vampires,” Pia whispered.
Everyone turned to stare at Pia now.
“I have a secret of my own to share. When you called asking for help with Max,” she said, avoiding his gaze, “you played right into Navarro’s hands. He’d heard things—about a breeder who might be carrying a vampire’s children.”
“And what were your orders, Pia?” Dylan asked.
Max heard the steel edge in Dylan’s voice.
Pia must have too, because she shivered. “Just to report what I learned on the ground here.”
“Navarro’s one devious bastard,” Quentin said.
Joe cursed. “That caps it. We’re leaving, Lily. We have to hide.”
“Lily needs the strength of our numbers,” Dylan said. “She’s safer staying here, even if her existence isn’t a secret.”
“Besides, who’s going to watch over her during the day, Joe?” Darcy asked. “I may be pregnant now, but I’ll pop in a fe
w weeks. Remember, I’m the day shift.”
“I don’t fry in the sunshine either,” Max said.
Laser-hot glares met his suggestion.
“Isn’t that like leaving the fox to watch over the hens?” Joe asked, sneering. “You’d like that wouldn’t you?”
“Hens!” Emmy spluttered.
Joe rolled his eyes. “Sorry, ladies.”
“As I told you before Joe,” Max said keeping his voice even, “I’ve changed my thinking about this war between our species.”
“Because you love Pia?” Joe’s eyebrows rose. “We’re supposed to believe that? Just days ago, you aimed an arrow at Dylan’s back.”
“You son of a bitch!” Emmy shouted and lunged toward him.
Without dropping his aim, Dylan snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her back.
Emmy’s fists rose. “What are you waiting for? Kill him!”
“I’m sorry for that,” Max said. “I blamed you, all of your kind really, for the horror I saw in that house.”
“But your kind committed those crimes,” Quentin said.
Max shook his head. “Not my kind. That’s the point. I’m not like that. You’re not like that. I didn’t see that then.”
“You do now?” Pia asked, sliding her hand over his shoulder.
His heart felt squeezed in a tight fist at the look of love and trust in her misty eyes. “I thought there was a good reason werewolves and vampires were enemies. But I fell in love with you, knowing what you were, and I can’t think of one goddamn reason why it’s wrong.”
“Whoa, everyone can see how much you love Pia,” Emmy said, her anger of a moment ago replaced with a hint of wonder in her voice.
Max smirked, unashamed his cock reacted so fiercely to Pia’s presence beside him.
“Get him a blanket,” Dylan said, his voice filled with disgust.
“I think he needs a room,” Quentin murmured.
“He can’t stay here,” Joe said flatly.
“No, he can’t.” Dylan finally lowered his weapon and sighed. “You are a problem. Our wives won’t let us kill you, but we can’t trust you.”
Still leaning back on his hands, Max drew a sigh of relief when the others put away their weapons. “I understand it’ll take time.”
Dylan released Emmy and sat on the edge of a nearby sofa. His expression was troubled. “Why are you willing to help us? And leave Pia out of the equation.”
Max thought that last command was unreasonable. Pia was the end of his resistance to all things vampire. “I was raised on stories of the Old Wars between our species. I stayed on with the SU when you came aboard, because I waited for you to show your true colors. I expected you to grow in strength and take over. But it didn’t happen.
“I envied how strong you are—how organized. My kin are surviving at the brink of extinction. We talk about building our numbers to face you, but it never happens. We live in isolated communities—we haven’t learned to blend well with humans.”
Max felt his face tighten. “We don’t police ourselves. I think that’s our greatest failure. I’d like to learn from you.”
“Why?” Dylan asked. “So you can take the knowledge back and teach them how to defeat us?”
“No, so I can teach them how to get along with you so that we don’t have to live on the fringes.”
Dylan stared at him. “I think we have a lot to talk about, Max, but we can’t build trust in a night.”
Max nodded. He had his life still. One step at a time.
“We have a special room here—it’s contained.”
Max stiffened. “A holding cell?”
“It has a few more comforts than that.” Dylan gave Pia a wink. “You’ll stay the night. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
“What about work?”
“We still have patrol, but we’ll be keeping you covered tonight.”
“I don’t suppose you can tell us about the werewolves?” Joe asked. For the first time this evening, his tone was a shade less than hostile.
Max drew a deep breath. “My brother was responsible. He left for New Orleans today. He’s gone home.”
“Did he leave any nasty reminders behind?” Quentin asked, flexing his shoulders and looking as though he halfway hoped he had.
“I don’t know,” Max said. “But I believe his remaining wolves were killed last night.”
“Damn.” Joe’s face reflected disappointment. “It could be a really boring night.”
Dylan rose and kissed Emmy on the lips, then he turned to the men. “Let’s head out.”
Max rose slowly to his feet, happy to be included, even if the vamps would be watching him as closely as the criminals. He gave Pia a quick kiss and indicated to Joe to precede him. “After you.”
Joe’s eyes narrowed. “No, after you.”
Max lifted an eyebrow and led the way out of the room. “Didn’t know you had a thing for my ass, Garcia,” he said, over his shoulder.
“Just don’t drop the soap when you hit the showers.”
*
The women had gathered once again around the kitchen table for a little late night gossip. Waiting for the men to come back and see whether they’d killed Max had taken the toll on their patience. At least two of the women were well into their cups.
“Max-sh has an amazing body,” Emmy said, tilting the last of the whiskey to spill into Pia’s glass. “I couldn’t help noticing that.”
“I think everyone noticed you noticing,” Darcy said dryly.
“Yeah, he does,” Pia replied dreamily. “And an incredible tongue.”
Darcy blinked. “A doggie tongue?”
Pia waggled her eyebrows. “Oh, yeah.”
“So, what else does a werewolf have that’s different from the average vamp?” Darcy asked, leaning as far forward as her round belly would allow.
“I don’t know. He’s never…you know…” Pia blushed. “Um…transformed while we…”
“Never?” Emmy giggled. “Looks like you have lots-sh more surprises coming.”
Pia sniffed. “Max is surprising even when he’s in purely human form.”
“It seems like it might be a little weird, making love when he’s in his wolf’s clothes,” Lily said. “All that hair and all. But I wonder if his cock is like a dog’s.” Her eyes brightened with intellectual curiosity.
“Lily!” Darcy gave her a playful slap then turned to Pia. “Do you think?”
Pia shrugged. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Darcy held up her hands, formed a circle with two fingers and poked another finger through the middle, and then cinched the “O” tight. “Well, when dogs mate, they kind of ‘lock’ together,” she said, emphasizing her point by trying to pull her finger free. “His penis swells inside the bitch.”
“Swells? Like what, a balloon?” The thought was vaguely alarming, but the Jack Daniels kept her from worrying too much about it. Pia downed the last sip of her drink.
“I don’t know, I’ve never really been that into canine sex,” Darcy said, wrinkling her nose. “Thought you might know something.”
“I still can’t get past the ‘bitch’ part,” Emmy shook her head sadly.
“You’ll tell us, won’t you?” Darcy asked. “What it’s like, I mean.”
“Darcy!” This time Emmy swatted at Darcy’s arm, but missed and almost unseated herself.
“I have to live vicariously these days,” Darcy said, scowling. “I’d love to learn what sort of ‘nip and tuck’ games werewolves play.”
“Nip and tuck? I take it we’re not talking plastic surgery.”
“If I have to explain it—”
Emmy bounced on her seat. “Oh, I get it!”
Pia grinned at the two, her heart warming at the friendship they’d extended her. She truly felt like “one of the girls” tonight. “Sure, we women have to share information, otherwise we’d be totally left in the dark.”
Lily cleared her throat. “Speaking of locks, do you think Dy
lan was serious about keeping you guys confined?”
“I’m sure he was,” Pia said. “But I’m thinking that won’t be so bad.”
Emmy raised her glass. “I imagine not—all that muscle on his muscle has to be…filling!”
Dylan turned from the monitor trained on the kitchen.
“I can’t believe you spy on them,” Max said, a smile still stretching his lips at the women’s ridiculous conversation.
“It’s the only way to stay one step ahead of the mayhem,” Quentin said, with a desperate note in his voice.
“Aye, they’re a devious lot.” Nodding toward Quentin, Dylan said, “You wouldn’t believe the plots we’ve had to squash. Quentin here can attest to that.”
Quentin’s narrowed eyes promised retribution. “Dylan, stuff it.”
“That’s precisely what Darcy did, wasn’t it?” Dylan’s dry wit had every male in the room, save Quentin, grinning. “But fortunately, we stopped the proliferation of that particular weapon in their arsenal of tricks.”
Thinking the men exaggerated the threat, Max turned back to the monitor.
Darcy was leaning over the table. “So what’s so special about his tongue?”
“Fuck, we need to get in there quick and break this up. She has that look in her eye.” Quentin turned the monitor off with the remote. “They’ll be sharing techniques next.”
“And that’s bad?” Max asked.
“It is when Darcy gets around to describing her finger method.” Dylan looked worried.
“Finger method?” Curiosity had him trailing the men to the kitchen. In their rush, they spilled inside the room.
The women turned at the noise.
Emmy shot to her feet. “What the hell? What happened to your faces?”
“Were you fighting?” Darcy’s hands were on her hips. “I thought you’d put that discussion aside until tomorrow. You were supposed to be working.”
“We were. We suffered these injuries in the line of duty.” Quentin looked to Max.
Max nodded, even though it was a blatant lie.
“What was-sh it?” Emmy asked. “Vampires? Werewolves?”
“No, honey.” Dylan stepped close to his wife and steadied her with an arm around her waist. “Just a bit of a barroom brawl. We finished it.”
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