by Rosanna Leo
Fleur had recently been freed from the Alpha Brethren, a vicious shape-shifter cult led by wolf shifter August Crane. Crane had abused her, both emotionally and physically, treating her with less respect than he’d offer a mongrel in the gutter. Jani had witnessed some of the abuse himself when he worked undercover at the Alpha Brethren compound, and it had sickened him. He’d vowed, then and there, to find a way to help her and erase Crane’s influence.
And now, thanks be to God, Crane was dead. Fleur was finally able to do what she wanted with her life. More than anything, Jani wanted to see her happy and thriving.
When he and his friends from the Ursa Resort had killed Crane and his minions, Jani thought he had his chance to help Fleur start over. It was the reason he hadn’t gone home to Budapest yet, even though some of his companions had.
God knew he had more reason to return home than anyone else, and yet he’d delayed the inevitable again and again. Back in Budapest, he had responsibilities. He had ties. However, he’d managed to forget them for a while as he helped Fleur get her life back on track.
How could he leave before he knew she was settled? How could he resume his life, one of relative privilege, knowing Fleur was out there on her own? He couldn’t. Something about the little wolf made him worry and it wasn’t just the fact he couldn’t stop picturing her naked.
She made bad decisions and she came from a bad home. This much he knew of her, even though she’d never shared her life story with him. How could he possibly leave her to her own devices, knowing she might end up lost on the wrong side of the tracks again? Tonight was the perfect example. Two weeks out of his sphere of influence and she ended up as a biker moll.
And she wondered why he spent all his time keeping tabs on her.
However, he’d lost track of her fourteen long days ago. She’d made damn sure to lose him, waiting until he was busy elsewhere and then giving him the slip.
Jani knew why. She was ashamed.
After so many years doing Crane’s evil bidding, after realizing she’d been brainwashed by the cult leader, she couldn’t face up to being friends with good people. She couldn’t accept a new life and saw it as an obstacle she could never surmount.
Most of all, she couldn’t face him. His tiger burned for her and she knew it. Her wolf was no better. She might like to pretend she wasn’t intrigued by the idea of taking Jani as a lover, but he knew the truth. He heard it in her every snatched breath. When they were in each other’s presence, desire hung hot and heavy between them. Illogical, yet irrefutable.
But still wrong.
Fleur Bissette was the last woman he would have chosen as a paramour. And he knew beyond a doubt he was the last man she would have chosen. Still, here they were. Confused. Hungry. Neither of them sure of what to do.
She’d only ever had horrible men in her life, men who had used her and ridiculed her. She had no idea what to do with a man who sought to cherish her. If he demonstrated any sort of affection, she’d run for the hills.
No, it was wrong. He couldn’t make a move. She needed friends more than she needed a man in her bed.
That was it. He was trying to be a friend. Just a friend.
Jani stole glances as he drove through the town of Lake Gemini. Each time they passed under a light standard, the beams of light illuminated her profile, making her look like a haloed angel in the darkness.
His angel turned and glared at him.
Okay, perhaps she did have a touch of demon in her, after all.
Her devilish qualities notwithstanding, Jani knew he had to help her before she allowed herself to be consumed by another man with bad intentions. Fleur needed rescuing, plain and simple.
He suspected she needed rescuing from herself more than from anyone else.
* * * *
Ruined. Jani had destroyed all her plans.
If she were still the same woman August Crane had recruited into his cult five years ago, she would have shifted into her wolf and sunk her teeth into Jani Meat-For-Brains Fodor. He deserved no less for his meddling. Who did he think he was anyway? Her fricking savior?
Okay, maybe he had been once or twice.
She sighed at the memory of the rugged tiger shifter putting his life on the line as they battled together at the Alpha Brethren compound. He had been her guardian angel then but it didn’t mean she required rescuing on a constant basis. She was a grown shifter woman, for Christ’s sake. Why couldn’t he get that through his thick head?
His green eyes had blazed when he came upon her at the bar. She’d known in that moment he was angry about her ditching him. No doubt he’d spent the last two weeks stomping and cursing in Hungarian about her needing protection, needing guidance. Needing him.
Jani could curse all he wanted. She didn’t need anyone. Least of all another stubborn man. Truth be told, she’d spent much of those two weeks dreaming about his sage-colored eyes and endless muscles, but at the end of the day, he was just another Neanderthal in cargo pants. She’d had her share of men and needed a break, thank you very much.
It was time for her to rediscover herself. Maybe, when all was said and done, she’d cut her long hair or take a few of those photography classes she’d seen advertised in town. Yeah, she’d “reinvent” herself.
“Like Madonna,” she murmured.
“What did you say?” he asked, interfering yet again.
“None of your goddamn business.” She turned in the truck cab to face him. “You know, this is abduction. I could have you brought up on charges.”
“There’s a phone in the glove box. Be my guest. Or would you like me to pull over and dial 9-1-1 for you?”
“You’re impossible.”
“And you’re ridiculous.”
“Who the hell do you think you are anyway? Prince Fucking Charming?”
One sandy eyebrow arched. “Be careful, little wolf. I’m quite the opposite.”
“Yeah, yeah, so you say. And yet you keep trying to save me even though I’m capable of taking care of myself. Every time I so much as take a breath, you get in my face, telling me how I should take it. You have problems, Jani Fodor. Control issues. In case you hadn’t noticed, I won’t be bossed around anymore.”
“Good. All I ever wanted was to hear you say it.”
“No, really. And that means you don’t get to order me about either. You might be pretty comfortable with me under your thumb, but I make my own decisions. You know, you like to think you’re different than August Crane, but in one way, you’re just the same. You’re a bully.”
He slammed on the brakes, bringing the pickup to a screeching halt. The jolt kicked up so much gravel around the tires, Fleur could see its powdery residue outside the windows.
Jani took three breaths, his fingers clutching the wheel. “Let’s talk about you now. You make the worst decisions of anyone I’ve ever known. You are the very model of impertinence. And you should learn when to keep your mouth shut. One day, you will say the wrong thing to the wrong person and you will regret it.”
She tilted her head and pouted. “Is that a threat? No, wait. This is the part where you tell me, ‘It’s not a threat, sweetheart. It’s a promise.’ I already know the script. Save your breath.” She rolled her eyes and turned to look out the passenger window.
“Stop. Just stop your thoughtless chatter.”
“Thoughtless? Oh, I have plenty of thoughts and they all revolve around leaving you behind on this dirt road. You don’t tell me what to do.” Having been ordered around by lesser men for far too long, Fleur’s anger finally boiled over. “Now let me out of this truck!”
Surrendering to her fury, she lashed out and raised her hand to strike him.
Jani caught her but she struggled in his iron grip. “Don’t test me, Fleur.”
“You ruin everything. I despise you.”
Images of August’s taunting face appeared before her. It had been for weeks, stealing her sleep and marring her dreams
. Only this time, it mingled with Jani’s features, distorting them. Faced with the prospect of confronting her former tormentor, she fought him with everything in her, trying to yank her wrists out of Jani’s viselike hands. Managing to pry one free, she once again reared back, this time to slug August’s apparition.
Jani caught the punch in his free hand, his nostrils flaring in indignation, and August’s face fizzled into nothingness.
“That’s enough!” Jani turned off the ignition and pulled her toward him, spinning her around, clamping one arm around her torso, and capturing her flailing arms. Holding her tight, he reached into the storage area behind the seats and retrieved one of the ropes.
“What the…?”
Before she could retaliate, he wrapped the rope around her body so she couldn’t move, tying it off at the end with a knot so thick even her wolf couldn’t chew through it. With her arms stuck at her sides, she had to rely on her legs and tried to kick him. Grunting as he dodged her boots, he shifted her, reaching over so he could grab another length to bind her legs as well.
“Jani. Let me go. I mean it.”
On a muttered Hungarian curse, he slid out of the truck, slamming his door, and stalked around to her side. He pulled open the door and continued to cocoon her in the ropes, not stopping until even her ankles were bound. He then dragged her out of the cab and hauled her over his shoulder.
“Put me down!” She wanted her voice to boom in anger but the crack in it made her sound pathetic.
With one hand, he detached a portion of the soft top covering the truck bed. “You are a danger to me and to yourself. Until you learn to control your impulses, you stay in the back.” Smiling in grim determination, he slid her into the bed.
“Don’t you dare.”
“Pleasant journey, Fleur. Good thing we’re not going far.” With a savage tug, he pulled the cover back over the bed and fastened it. Tapping the side of the bed a couple of times, he got back into the truck and drove away.
Oh, no, he didn’t. She gave into her rage and screamed, knowing no one would hear her. They were already out in the country, on a dirt road. The nearest house was miles away. “Jani Fodor, I will kill you! Do you hear me?”
He responded by turning on the radio and cranking up the volume. As he drove away, the driving beat of the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter taunted her. Damn. Now he’d ruined one of her favorite songs, too. She’d always think of that fat-headed barbarian whenever she heard it.
Once she got out of this mess, Jani would be the one begging for shelter. She’d make sure of it.
He drove over a couple of bumps, probably on purpose, making her roll and smack against the side of the bed. At least the cargo area was empty and there was nothing to bash her head against. The relative comfort, if it could be called such, did nothing to diminish the fact the entire flatbed smelled of fish. Shit. This must be one of the trucks they rented to fishermen at the Ursa Resort. After this ride, not only would she be bruised from rolling all over God’s creation, she’d smell like the old men who hung out at the docks.
Simmering in her anger, and a suspicious puddle of wetness that was likely old fish juice, Fleur lay as still as possible, absorbing every shock of the ride.
Of course, the biggest shock of the night hadn’t been getting trussed up like Thanksgiving dinner. It had been seeing Jani again, and experiencing the explosive jolt to her heart.
Perhaps she’d been naïve in assuming he’d toddle back to Budapest with the rest of the tigers from Anton’s court. Jani was focused, after all, and she sensed he appreciated a challenge. But her? Surely he was tired of babysitting her, and she didn’t need a caregiver anyway. Besides, men like him didn’t fall for women like her. That only happened in fairy tales and she’d never put much stock in those.
Prince Charming didn’t exist. Not in her world.
And if Prince Charming did exist? August Crane’s voice taunted her from the recesses of her imagination. Do you honestly think he’d want a flea-bitten dog like you?
“Shut up, you homicidal maniac,” she whispered to the ghost. “You’re dead. You have no power over me.”
The man in her memory laughed. I’ll always be your alpha, Fleur. You’re still mine.
She might like to think he’d lost his power but Fleur knew full well August still haunted her nightmares almost every night. Mocking her, always mocking. He’d become the soundtrack of her life and she couldn’t seem to wrench the record from the turntable.
As August’s wraith faded away, she breathed a sigh of relief. But as soon as he disappeared, Jani took his place in her warped imagination. The Jani in her dreams reclined naked on a bed, his hands folded behind his head. He smiled in encouragement. Dream Fleur crawled up his body, kissing her way along his thighs to the tantalizing crease at his hip…
“Stop it.” She had no business daydreaming about princes and thighs and green-eyed tiger shifters. Not yet, anyway. Not until she knew the truth about her mother and whether or not she was stuck with him.
Wilf Breckenridge was the local drug lord and a fellow wolf shifter. He was also a traitorous son-of-a-bitch. Wilf didn’t have August Crane’s explosive sense of malice. No, Breckenridge was the sort who pretended he was your best friend and then stabbed you in the back. He had a handsome face but his smaller stature and scrawny build made him vindictive. His rash temperament had always made Fleur flinch.
If only her mom saw him the same way. She thought Breckenridge was a paragon, all because he never hit her. Barbi Bissette had been on the receiving end of bad treatment from men all her life. Never one to stick up for herself, she certainly hadn’t been able to save herself from Fleur’s father’s fists, and he’d been drunk half the time. Sadly, her mom had been drunk or high as well. It was her escape, and Breckenridge provided it. He never took the drugs he peddled to impressionable young shifters but he knew Fleur’s mom had a taste for the stuff. He’d been pushing drugs to her since they were teens at the same school.
Because of Breckenridge, Barbi had been hooked.
This time, Fleur would rescue her mother from her dealer. She wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. After numerous attempts to help her mom years before, she was finally going to drag her to rehab and dry her out. She might even throw away the key. Barbi was unable to help herself, so Fleur had to do it for her. She’d never succeed if she remained in Breckenridge’s sphere of influence.
Although Wilf hadn’t put a hand on her mother yet, it didn’t mean his personality wasn’t violent. Fleur had glimpsed his dealings with underlings in the past. The drug dealer might not like to get his own hands dirty, but he had no qualms about getting others to do his dirty work. Everyone in his circle felt his wrath at some point but Fleur would do everything in her power to make sure her mother never suffered from his warped attentions.
Fleur had no respect for men who used violence to express their emotions. After all, she’d been a victim to such men for much of her twenty-eight years. For a long time, she never questioned the order of things.
Jani had been the one to open her eyes to such atrocities.
And yet she had raised her hand to Jani. She’d lashed out, the way August Crane had a hundred times. Hadn’t she learned anything from her experiences?
Guilt made her curl into herself. Yes, Jani had acted like an ass, but he never would have touched her in anger. He’d sworn so and she believed him.
Okay. He had tied her up but she recognized the acts of a man at his emotional limits. She knew how to push Jani’s buttons and had made a purpose of doing it ever since they left the Alpha Brethren compound together. He didn’t deserve it.
If Jani hadn’t taught her to respect herself, to never allow anyone to hurt her, she wouldn’t have dared to help her mom. She was cut from the same cloth as the woman. Barbi had let men walk all over her all her life. Fleur had absorbed the same traits. But Jani had taught her to question this hurtful pattern.
He’d he
lped her dream of breaking it.
She wouldn’t be able to do so from the back of this truck. Perhaps, instead of flying off the handle with him at first, she should have taken a moment to explain her presence in the bar. Did he honestly think she wanted to work there? Of course, not. But those biker shifters hung out with Breckenridge. In plying them with drinks and getting them hot and bothered, she’d hoped to trick a bit of information out of their filthy mouths. So one of them got a bit handsy. She would have handled it.
Then Jani showed up and she couldn’t think straight. Funny how logical thought jumped out the window when he was around. He brought out the animal in her for some reason, making her want to claw and bite and growl.
“Stop thinking of him,” she muttered, her voice echoing in the truck bed. “The idiot might have a good heart but he locked you in the back of a smelly truck.”
Despite his savage treatment, her inner wolf couldn’t help admiring his handiwork with the ropes. Seeing his substantial muscles flex as he wrapped the cords around her…
That was one of the reasons she had to leave. Her wolf liked Jani. It liked him a little too much.
As if someone like him would have anything to do with her. Oh, he’d sleep with her. Of that, she had no doubt. But would a man like him, an adviser to foreign royalty, cousin to a prince, actually plan a life with a woman like her? No chance in hell.
You’re trash, girl, her father’s voice echoed in her brain.
You, my insignificant little dog, are nothing, August Crane’s silenced voice seemed to concur.
A tear gathered behind her eye and she couldn’t even wipe it. She remembered the time Jani took her from August’s compound. The cult leader had just fucked her and given her a brutal beating. Jani had been gentle when he’d spoken, taking a moment to cover her bruised body with his own shirt.
No one has the right to touch you like this, not even Crane.
It was as if he’d shone a light on every corner of her dark world, making her question everything. He’d helped dry her tears. She refused to spill any more now.
She would not go backward. Forward, all the way.
