by Susan Bliler
Squinting at the door, Cersi nearly laughed. Someone had keyed in ugly scrawl the word ‘whore’ right under where Tyson’s arm rested.
“Nice truck,” she clipped out.
But he wasn’t amused because he growled more firmly, “Get in the fucking truck, Cersi.”
Fuck that! Fuck him!
She crossed the road in front of the truck and ignored when Tyson threw the passenger side door open for her. She started walking on the road heading back the way the truck had come. The truck’s engine roared, and she heard Tyson curse before the truck backed up, keeping pace with her all the while Tyson glared at her from the driver’s seat.
“Get! In!”
She stopped walking and turned to face him just as Tyson slammed on the brakes. The truck rocked to a halt.
“Get in!”
“No!” She slammed the truck door and glared at him through the window, daring him to make her.
Tyson hesitated only a moment. Bright green eyes blazing, his jaw ticked once before he blasted out of the truck.
Damn, he was fast! Too fast! She’d only backed up two steps before he was on her. One arm around her waist, the other collaring her throat, he forced her backward until she was pressed up hard against the trunk of a towering pine. Once there, she was trapped as he pressed his body into hers.
“Do not test me, Badass. Do as I say or…”
“No!” she cut him off. “I’m not gonna do as you say! I follow no man’s orders! Now get your damn hands off me, Tyson BloodMoon!”
Chapter 15
Hell no, he wasn’t taking his hands off her. He couldn’t if he wanted to because Monster refused to allow her to walk around out in this forest alone. They knew what kind of dangers the place held for an experienced mountain man like him, and Cersi and her devil-may-care attitude were bound to find trouble if he didn’t take control.
He wanted to just throw her over his shoulder, but her shoulder was still healing, and he wasn’t about to hurt her just to prove a point. Still, he hoisted her up in his arms, carried her to the truck, settled her in the passenger side seat and jammed his finger in her face. “Get out of this truck, and I will spank your ass.”
He slammed the door so hard it rocked and all the way around the front, he kept his eyes on Cersi where she glared right back at him from her seat.
Before he could even fully settle himself in the driver’s seat, she spat, “I am not a child!”
“Then don’t act like one!”
He revved the engine and backed up to a pullout where he turned Afften’s truck around and pointed it back up the mountain. His truck had been parked back at his cabin, so with Afften’s closer, he borrowed it knowing she kept the keys in the ignition. They all did just in case anyone needed to take one of the vehicles for any reason.
A howl out the window had him turning his head to frown at the passing landscape. “Those are actual wild wolves,” he explained. “You know, the kind that don’t turn into people. The kind that don’t give a damn that you’re out sulking in the woods. The kind that are just looking for an easy meal.”
“Yeah, well you made it abundantly clear that I’m not your problem.”
“So you just go throwing yourself in harm’s way?” He looked her up and down. “Christ, you’re not even dressed properly for this weather.” Leaning forward he blasted on the heat all the way. “Do you know how fast frostbite and hypothermia can set in?”
Cersi’s response was crossing her arms over her chest and huffing out an exasperated sound.
“Where in the hell were you going?”
She shrugged her good shoulder but didn’t answer.
“You can’t just waltz off out here. There are animals and cliffs and just generally dangerous shit, you understand?”
Silence filled the cab of the truck as she turned her face away from him and stared out the window.
“I asked you a question.”
Head whipping around she hissed, “And I asked you one! Why are you being such a dick?”
And he was. He knew he was, but how was he supposed to tell her that he was trying to put some distance between them so Monster would stop trying to claim her as his? Once they’d gotten back to BlackLodge, Monster had been so convinced that it was all over. They’d brought her home, that made her theirs in his eyes, but Tyson knew better. Women didn’t want life out in these woods. Sure, Afften and Vesa stayed, but Afften was a shifter and needed the space and their protection from her pack of Aftermath fucks. And as for Vesa, well, honestly, Tyson didn’t know how Haddix talked her into staying, but she was. Cersi was a different matter though. Cersi was all high-heels and red painted lips. She was manicured nails and hair appointments, and there was none of that shit out here. Besides, why would she choose him? Why would anyone choose him? He was fucked up. More animal than man, he couldn’t be trusted with something soft and precious like Cersi.
“This is how I am,” he lied. “Sorry if you thought otherwise.”
But when she responded, her words sent an ache searing through him.
“Yeah,” she muttered turning back to the window. “Me too, mostly because I’m the fucking idiot who knew better.”
Her words gutted him because he knew what she was saying. She was telling him that just like everyone else in her life, he’d let her down.
All the drive back to BlackLodge, he struggled to keep his mouth shut. But when the main house finally came into view, he blasted right passed it and drove straight to his cabin. It was at the furthest end of the property because he liked his privacy.
Glancing out the front window as the truck stopped, Cersi mumbled, “What are we doing here?”
He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Honestly, he didn’t know what he was doing. He was being mean and saying mean shit to push her away, but the next thing he knew, he was driving her to his place. Yeah, she was messing with his head, but truth be told, it was his heart he was worried about.
Climbing out of the truck, he circled around to her door and pulled it open. “We need to talk.” He motioned toward his cabin. “Will you just come in?”
She glanced from him to his little one-story cabin before easing out of the truck. He held out a hand to help her down, but she ignored the offer and used the armrest on the door instead.
The whole walk up to the front steps, his heart started pounding faster and faster. He’d never had a woman in is cabin before…ever! Yeah, he and the guys had flirted around and slept with some of the tourists on occasion, but Tyson only ever did so in their cabins, never his own.
Opening the door wide, he ushered Cersi in and swallowed hard as she stepped over the threshold. Glancing at the campgrounds, he took one last look around before stepping inside and closing the door behind him.
Inside, all his plans dried up like dew in the early morning light. He’d planned on talking, he’d planned on explaining why they’d never work, but what left his mouth were two words he refused to take back.
“Come here!”
***
Either Cersi was going crazy or some part of her, some secret part buried deep that she was loathe to acknowledge, actually liked being bossed around by Tyson. She couldn’t hide the shiver that tore through her at his abrupt command. And that fast, her sex moistened, her heart rate skyrocketing as her brain screamed, “Don’t you do it, bitch!” But her legs were already moving, following Tyson’s demand, allowing him to take control.
As soon as she was close enough, he wrapped his hand around her throat but didn’t choke her. Tyson had her in his clutches; he could do with her what he pleased, and fuck if being controlled by him didn’t feel like being home. It’d been so damn long since anyone besides Vesa had cared one way or another about her wellbeing. Granted, Tyson only cared because she’d been his responsibility. Her welfare had been his responsibility, but still, he wasn’t acting like some prison guard. Cersi had been around enough of them to know when a guard was simply doing his job. No, Tyson watched her too inten
tly. He catered to her a little too much. Yeah, it felt nice…too bad she wasn’t sticking around. Even if she wanted to.
Tyson was dark. He was quiet. He was dangerous. Cersi couldn’t deny the power rolling off of him. Worse, she couldn’t deny her attraction to him. It was visceral. She felt his eyes on her like they were his hands. Every slight inhalation of his chest, every furrow of his brow, every quirk of his lips felt like it was in response to her, and that didn’t make sense. How could it? She’d only just met the man and made an enemy of him from the start, which, granted, was his fault. He’d cornered her and forced into extreme measures. He didn’t deserve Cersi’s understanding and certainly not her lust, but hell… She lifted cautious eyes to his and yep. He was watching her with those intense green eyes set in a hard expression that sent shivers of awareness coursing down her spine. Annoyed that he could affect her with one simple look, Cersi defied his hold on her neck by hiking her chin up and giving him her most lethal glare as she, “Stop looking at me like that.”
Standing in the middle of his warm cabin, long legs splayed, and free arm resting loosely at his side, his response was a grunt. After a minute of them glaring at each other, a corner of his mouth lifted just a fraction before he asked, “Like what?”
Cersi’s eyes dipped to his chest before they lifted again. “Like…that!”
Tyson canted his head and grinned at her in mock confusion, his expression asking her to explain herself, which she had no intention of doing. There was no way in hell she was telling him that he was looking at her like he wanted to devour her. Just the thought of his mouth on her had goosebumps blasting up her arms. God, he reminded her of a wolf toying with its prey. No! He was more like the big bad wolf from the red riding hood tale, lying in wait to spring his trap. Her eyes slid to his mouth and the words, “the better to eat you with my dear” thrummed through her head.
Eyes snapping up, she sneered, “I’m not playing your games, animal.”
In a blink, Tyson’s grin vanished. Arms dropping to his side, his brows slowly slid down. Cersi could only watch as his expression morphed into one of pure menace.
“What?” he growled.
Swallowing hard, Cersi had to force herself to hold her ground when the air suddenly filled with the weighty threat that emanated from him. She should have known better. She’d seen his monster, she knew what he was, which meant she should have known better than to taunt the beast. Before she could even open her mouth, he was on her. Hands lifting her up off the ground, she was forced to wrap her legs around him as he pressed her into the wall and asked with a sneer, “What did you call me?”
Holy hell! It was just a taunt! She kept her face impassive as she stared up at him, trapped under the spell of his bright green gaze. “It wasn’t an insult. You’re a wolf. It’s a fact.”
“I’m no fucking animal,” he snarled, leaning lower until his nose practically pressed into hers. “I’m a wolf. You’d do well to remember it.”
Unsure how to respond, she swallowed and continued to hold his gaze. She hadn’t called him an animal to insult him. Hell, if she was being honest, the fact that he was a shifter turned her on more than it probably should. Animal. What was so offensive about the word? “We’re all animals,” she finally threw back at him, pissed that he’d gotten riled up over nothing. “All of us,” she bit out.
His hold on her ribs tightened, and if she were a lesser woman, she’d be afraid. She wasn’t. She could handle Tyson. She could handle any man. She’d made sure of it. After she’d emancipated from foster care and gone out on her own, she’d enlisted in the Marines. With three tours in Afghanistan under her belt, she’d come back home and enrolled in the law enforcement academy. She’d graduated at the top of her class but decided that being a cop wasn’t for her. No, she wanted to be her own boss. That’s how she ended up becoming a bounty hunter. She wasn’t afraid of Tyson BloodMoon. On the contrary, he had her wanting him in a way that felt primal…wild! She wanted his teeth in her flesh like she wanted him buried between her thighs. She wanted him claws and all, she wanted his monster unleashed just for her.
Now, with Tyson’s menacing form towering over her, his big body pressing into hers, she felt a wave of disappointment crash over her. Why did all the hot ones have to be so damn crazy?
Brows snapping down, she made a point of looking down at his hands on her before slowly lifting just her eyes. If he wasn’t going to kiss her, then he needed to get his goddamn hands off her. “I’ll give you two seconds to get your fucking hands off me.”
Tyson snorted, but his hold loosened a fraction before he asked, “And if I don’t comply, what then? You know what I am, what I could do to someone as small and fragile as you.”
Small? Fragile? His words pissed her off.
“I don’t give a fuck what you think you are. What I do care about is your hands on me without my permission.” Instead of trying to break free of his hold, she leaned into him, pressing her chest to his as she snarled up at him. “And if you think I’m small and fragile than that’s your fucking mistake!”
Chapter 16
Having Cersi pressed up against him was doing crazy shit to Tyson’s wolf. The dumb beast was actually pouncing around inside of him like a cat toying with a ball of yarn. His wolf was acting…giddy. Stupidly, childishly, giddy, and that never happened. It was almost embarrassing.
Cersi was still glaring up at him, and he had to wonder if she was fucking with him or not. She certainly didn’t seem leery enough to understand that he actually did harbor a beast inside of him even though she’d seen it twice now. Monster couldn’t be controlled, not by him and certainly not by his Alpha. Cersi was playing a dangerous game.
Leaning lower, he growled, “First off, I will look at you any way I please.” To add emphasis to his words, he pulled back and let his eyes dip to her lips before lifting back to hers. His heightened hearing picked up the sudden uptick in her heart rate. “Second, I am an animal, one I promise you don’t want to tangle with, and third, if you don’t want me touching you, then I suggest you stay far away from me.” He pulled her closer until his lips brushed against hers. As he spoke, electric currents shot through his body even as she gifted him a sharp little inhalation. “That’s the only warning you’ll get, Cersi.”
Before she could say anything, he released her, lowering her legs carefully before forcing himself to walk away. Hands balled into tight fists at his side, he didn’t look back as he made his way to his room at the back of the cabin.
Inside, Monster was lunging and snapping at the surface demanding control. He wanted to turn around and drag Cersi back to their den. Monster wanted to strip her, fuck her, and keep her. And, goddamn if the man in him didn’t want it too. But, it couldn’t happen. It could never happen. He wasn’t like other shifters. He wasn’t like anyone. He was fucked up; he was cursed. He was a monster, and Cersi deserved better than that. She needed to heed his warning because it really was the only one she’d get. He wasn’t even going to pretend that he had any control where she was concerned. Even now, Monster was shredding his insides trying to get him to go back.
Crazy fuck!
He needed to change, but first, he had to talk to Haddix. His Alpha’s mate, Vesa, was finally happy, which meant she’d stay of her own volition. There was no longer any need for Tyson to keep an eye on Cersi, which meant that she needed to leave BlackLodge, and she needed to leave now!
Whipping out his cell phone he was pounding in Haddix’s number when his door was pushed open.
Turning ever so slowly, he prayed it wasn’t Cersi standing there in his room. It was. Of course, it was. Who else would it be?
“Why…” she stepped into his room. “Why did you bring me here?”
Because I couldn’t bear to take you anywhere else. He didn’t say it.
“You keep pushing and pulling on me.”
He knew he had.
“I can’t get a read off you.”
He knew she couldn’t.
“Do…do you want me or not, Tyson?”
All the air left him with the question because fuck yes, he wanted her. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything, but he couldn’t have her, and that was the damn problem.
She stepped away from the door, closing it behind her and walked further into his room. With each step she took, he was begging inwardly for her to stop.
Stop, stop, stop!
She didn’t stop. She just kept right on closing the distance between them and as she did, it became harder and harder to stay planted in place. She was torturing him being here. She needed to leave. Now!
***
Cersi didn’t know what she was doing. Taunting a beast, obviously, but she couldn’t place why exactly. Was it because he’d got her all hot and ready and then stormed away from her? Was it because he’d been trying to convince her this whole time that he’d held the power when he’d just shown her that it wasn’t true. He wasn’t pushing her away. She angled her head and narrowed her eyes on him. He was running! God, she hated runners. They were cowardly and weak. They deserved to be taught a lesson.
Grabbing the zipper of her jacket, she pulled it down and noted how Tyson’s eyes followed the movement. She stripped off her jacket and dropped it on the floor, taking another step closer.
Tearing her eyes from his to glance around the room, she decided instantly that she liked it. It was simple. A bed a few dressers, a dark burgundy rug on the floor with matching curtains over the lone window. There were a few pictures on the wall of wildlife scenes, but what really drew her was the scent. The room smelled like Tyson, earthy, dark, powerful, his very essence filled the space and had her wishing for things…wanting.
She didn’t even look at him as she grabbed the hem of her shirt and used her good arm to pull it over her head.
“What…what are you doing?”
She hid the grin that wanted to wreck her face as she turned to face him. “I need my bandages changed.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t why she’d stripped off her shirt either. Watching as Tyson fisted and un-fisted his hands, she lifted her hand and ran it over her bandages then skimmed her breasts and smoothed it down her stomach. Tyson’s eyes followed the path. She nearly laughed when he swallowed hard and lifted those bright green eyes to hers.
