He didn’t know who he was madder at—her or himself. He could have stopped her from leaving. One word with the force of the pack behind him and he could have crushed her will. But he knew if he used that power on her, she would never forgive him. Better to use his human authority.
Another flick at the control panel and his siren warbled out. Lord, she was an obstinate woman. Where did she think she was going? To die? His temper flared once more. She was just going to let the leech kill her? What kind of plan was that?
And why was she so scared of pack?
Wolves, and especially females, wanted to belong. They needed the community of their own kind. Even lone males would eventually settle if they weren’t killed in territory disputes.
A trailer-pulling SUV slowed her down, and he saw her debate passing, her car sliding to one side and then the other. Would she dare? His blood pounded in his throat in fear. Maybe he should slow down, pretend to back off. He didn’t want to scare her into doing something stupid. At last though, she braked, turning the sedan into a pullout, wheels crunching and dust rising. He drove up right behind her and killed the siren. Relief was once again replaced with anger.
The frown she wore as he tapped on her window would have made many a man tremble in his boots. Jackson longed to toss her into the backseat and make her scream out in passion—or maybe he could shake some sense into her. His jaw muscles clenched. He doubted it.
Cars passed them, and curious heads turned to watch them. Warm, exhaust stinking air blew over them in waves. With such an audience, he figured she wouldn’t resist arrest. She didn’t. But she cursed him under her breath in terms that he thought would have made a Navy Seal proud.
“Don’t make me use the cuffs, Deanna,” he warned, although the idea stirred up a kinkiness in him he hadn’t thought he possessed. He told his libido to put the brakes on.
She stepped out of her vehicle, twin spots of rage on her cheeks. “Why the hell are you doing this? Just let me leave town!”
“And die? I don’t think so.”
“You’re abusing your power,” she growled, hair whipping around her face as a logging truck drove by. “Sheriff,” she added. She hunched her shoulders up, muscles moving beneath her cotton tee. Power tingled between them.
“I’ve run unopposed for the last two elections. And you were driving recklessly.” He leaned closer, his face inches from hers.
She jutted her chin and glowered up at him. “Why can’t you let me go?”
He didn’t really know how to answer that. Since the moment he had seen her on the street yesterday morning, he couldn’t help himself. He was drawn to her. “We’re mated now,” he said softly. “You’re pack, whether you like it or not.”
“Then exile me,” she said.
Shock punched him in the gut. “Is that what happened to you? What son-of-a-bitch would do that?”
She paled and shook her head, dark strands of silk falling down around her face like a curtain. The wind of passing cars blew it back again, away from her pale skin. The smell of exhaust and hot asphalt competed with the muskiness of his scent on her. Her fear touched him, and he tasted the sorrow on it, and something else…shame. That one tore at him. Whatever was going on with her though, becoming vampire food wouldn’t solve it.
“Deanna. It’s too late. You’ll never get far enough away now. Stay with me and fight. God damn it! Fight for your life. Let me help you.”
She looked away, letting her eyes follow the hot blacktop of the road north as a semi passed them, gusting the foul air one more time. Her eyes closed, thick lashes falling like a fan across her cheeks. He saw the tension leave her shoulders though he could still feel her anger at him.
“All right,” she whispered. “But it better not be your funeral.”
The drive to the station overflowed with taut, silent tension. The girl beside him was a mass of nerves and conflictions, but he didn’t know how to reach her. He figured the best thing he could do was deal with her vampire problem, and after that, things would work themselves out. One thing at a time. That was how he had lived his life since he was sixteen.
He glanced at Deanna, taking in her delicate face, her large, sad eyes. To his human side, she was a stranger. He knew little about her—but his wolf saw her as mate, and if he tried to fight his instincts, he’d lose. Whether they liked it or not, they were now bonded.
Surrounded by evergreens and a freshly tarred asphalt lot, the sheriff station sat back from the road, the tan siding and wide windows looking like any other low-rent office building. Both his deputies were out, one hunting a nested vampire and the other on traffic patrol.
He kept a firm grip on her arm as he led the way into the station house, the cool interior a nice contrast from the summer sun. Inside was a reception desk, a door to the back room and a small waiting area with posters about keeping kids off drugs and using bike helmets.
Arlene widened her eyes as she glanced up from the receptionist’s desk. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and feathers dangled from her ears. Most of the locals considered Arlene and her sister eccentric—they practiced witchcraft and had a reputation for being strange. Jackson had always found Arlene competent though, and her charms and crystals were harmless enough.
“Hey, Arlene. This is Deanna. She’s going to be around.”
“Not by my own choice.” Deanna glared in his direction.
“Well, hello.” Arlene looked from one to the other with bright blue eyes. “Um. Do you want me to take a long lunch, Sheriff? Everything’s been real quiet. Stan went to talk some kids out of lighting rockets into the brush, but other than that we seem in good shape.
“Why don’t you take the day off? Margy will be here soon, and she’ll take care of dispatch.”
Arlene shrugged. “Okey dokey. I had some shopping to do anyway.” She hesitated in front of Deanna, pursing her pink painted lips. “You know hon, you got a dark aura. Lots of lavender—I think that means trouble is coming after you.”
Deanna blinked. “That’s true enough.”
His receptionist smiled. “Stick with the Sheriff. I think you’ll be okay.”
Deanna jerked her head at him. “What if he’s the trouble…”
Arlene smiled. “He’s the kind of trouble a girl dreams of getting into.” She winked at Jackson before leaving, hips swinging in her too-tight mini-skirt and calf-high white boots. Jackson raised his eyebrows at Deanna, letting her arm go.
“Coffee?”
“Aren’t you going to lock me up in one your cells?” She smiled sweetly, her eyes flashing with temper.
“Don’t tempt me.” He stalked her, but she backed up quickly, her cheeks flushing for a different reason. The sexual electricity between them jumped back and forth, charging the air with current.
“What the hell is your problem? I’m trying to save your life and the lives of your pack.” She frowned, but he could smell her arousal. Every time he got close to her, her body reacted. Her deep, haunted eyes stared into his, and he realized that she was more than just pretty. She was beautiful. And brave. Oh yes. Brave and foolish. Didn’t she know he was trying to save her life?
Caught between the office wall and Arlene’s desk, she glowered at him as he leaned in close, looming over her.
“You came to the shower,” he said. “You took my blood just as I took yours. Maybe our wolves made us do it—but it’s too late to change those facts.” He ran a finger down her cheek and slowly over the long column of her neck. She shivered beneath his touch.
When she took a deep breath, her breasts touched his chest and even through the layers of fabric he could feel her tight nipples. He had never in his life felt such lust—it was like the compulsion to change during the full moon. He couldn’t fight it. He put his hands on either side of her face, sliding his fingers into her hair and holding her still. She opened her mouth to say something, and he pounced, taking her and possessing her with a kiss as deep as he could make it.
Sh
e kissed him back.
He carried her through the door, past his deputies desks, the gun lockers, the files and computers, and finally to his private office. He cleared his desk with one arm. A cup of pens and a stapler clattered to the floor while papers flew and slid in every direction. “Say you want me,” he growled to her, pressing her down on the hard surface. She wiggled beneath him. Her lips were puffy from his kisses, her cheeks flushed with passion. The gold ring in her eyes brightened, streaking the forest green. She was so beautiful, and he wanted her with a madness.
“Jackson…”
“That’s right, baby. Say my name.”
“Jackson!”
“And what is it you want me to do to you?”
He nipped her ear and ran his teeth down her neck, then the tip of his tongue. She tasted of salt and flesh. Her body trembled beneath his. Stepping back, he ran his hand down her chest, between her soft breasts and over her flat stomach, until his fingers caught on the top of her pants.
He ripped her jeans off with a loud tear. She gasped but tossed her hair back and gripped his shirt in her hands. Smiling slyly, she tore both his uniform shirt and his cotton tee from his shoulders, buttons flying, and scraps of cloth falling to the floor.
With a bend of his wrist he freed his erection. He couldn’t believe how much he desired her—like craving water in the hot desert.
She lay open and parted for him, and the smell of her arousal brought a responding growl of need to his throat. He couldn’t hold his wolf back anymore.
He thrust between her legs into her smooth, wet sheath. Her inner muscles clenched around him as she moaned, and he plunged deeper, giving her more of his length. He gripped her ankles with his hands and held her legs up to his shoulders as he took her with ferocity. He pounded his sex into her and she rocked her hips to take even more of him.
Together they climbed ecstasy’s peak, and she gripped him as the tide of orgasm flowed over her. Her legs tightened and her hips jutted up against his. He couldn’t hold back his own pleasure. He dropped his hands, grabbed her bottom and thrust once more deep into her center, spilling his hot seed into her eager womb. Her inner muscles milked his penis, and waves of satisfaction rolled over him.
They lay together, connected, sated, their breath mingling. He wrapped his arms around her, lifted and turned, until he sat on the desk and she clung to his lap, her legs around him. The smell of sex enveloped them and his small office—a place he had always considered his private sanctuary. He held her close, reveling in her sleek, silky skin. Her head rested on his shoulder, and her long, dark hair tickled his bare chest. Catching up a strand, he pulled the silk between his fingers. She sighed. “What is this between us, Jackson? Are we mad?” Her dark eyes opened and he could see the loneliness haunting her. His heart twisted. Whoever had hurt her so badly he wanted to kill.
“No sweetheart. We’re lucky,” he whispered, and pet back her hair. “Sometimes it just happens, and who are we to fight it?”
She shook her head against him but didn’t answer.
All the wolves of his pack knew he had just taken his mate. He could feel them on the edge of his awareness accepting Deanna. But would she accept them?
CHAPTER SIX
Deanna tugged on the sarong skirt so that it would cover her thighs—well, at least she didn’t have much to change out of when the full moon rose in the sky. She hadn’t had a choice. The lost and found box in the station house had been filled with sweatshirts and jackets, but little in the way of size six jeans, and her pants were torn to shreds.
Jackson had put on one of his spare brown uniform shirts, transferring his badge and gear with little fuss. He had left to help out at a fender bender on Main Street, leaving her to watch Margy work the dispatch and phones. She was surprised at how her heart twinged when he strode out the front door. She chewed her lip in worry. Was she really falling for the guy, or was it all wolf-magic and his alpha magnetism?
The station house was small, and Margy watched her pacing while she listened to the police radio. Her shimmery-blue eyes were sympathetic.
Deanna stared out at the sunny parking lot when she reached the front lobby. She was tempted to run out the front door, but she didn’t have time to get very far before darkness fell, despite the long sunny evening of a northern summer. The vampire was probably already awake—but he couldn’t come after her until the sun dipped below the horizon, which would be around nine forty-five that night.
She collapsed into one of the chairs and peered blindly at the old magazines while listening as Margy answered the phone. It was something about a neighbor lighting firecrackers. When the older woman had assured the caller six times that she’d send a deputy by, she finally hung up, then she spent a few minutes radioing Deputy Irvingson. As she laid down the headset, Deanna could feel her eyes on her, but she determinedly stared at the pictures of skinny movie stars on the cover of People.
“You’re still fighting us,” Margy said. “Why are you so scared of pack? You exchanged blood with Creed…”
Deanna ran a hand back through her hair. How could she say what was in her heart? She had been lonely for so long. Her brother was not enough for her, she realized, but could she trust another family? Could she survive it if they exiled her? She remembered her mother’s blank eyes staring at her when she confronted her that last time, asked her why she would sleep with the killer of her husband. “That’s the way it is for us,” she had answered. “We follow the strongest in the pack—and that wasn’t your father.”
“It’s just been me and my brother for three years,” she finally answered. “We… We keep to ourselves.”
“And why is that? Why aren’t the two of you with a pack?” Margy got up and moved beside her. Deanna swallowed. It was such an ugly story. “We were…exiled. My father was a packleader in San Diego. He was, a surprisingly gentle man, and he didn’t see how dangerous Jerry could be. Jerry came to us and started talking ambition, about building up the pack. He didn’t like Dad’s rules…and he wasn’t alone.” She stared at the sunlight fading to gold out on her parking lot. For Jerry to win a challenge for pack leadership, he would have had to have the majority of the pack behind him. It wasn’t just strength that chose the leader, it was the power of the other wolves. That was the worst betrayal—the people she had known all her life chose Jerry over her father. Even her mother.
Margy reached out and put her hand on Deanna’s shoulder. The simple touch warmed her, and made the painful story easier to tell. “He killed my father. Ripped his throat out.” The blood had been so red, and her father had looked surprised right to the end.
“Oh Lord!”
“My brother, Chris, tried to stop him, but the others held him back—they had to beat him unconscious. My brother was exiled because he wouldn’t accept Jerry as leader, and I went with him. I pleaded with my mother to come too but she wouldn’t. The man had destroyed our family, but she still chose his bed.” Disgust curdled in her stomach. “I haven’t talked to her since.”
Margy hugged her. “What a horrible story! You poor thing. No wonder you’re having a hard time joining another pack.”
Tears blurred her vision, tears she hadn’t shed in years—but it was so good to be back in the warm embrace of someone who knew and understood.
“Creed’s not like that, you know. He’s a good man. He keeps this town and county safe, and he didn’t even kill Howard, who was the last pack leader and my husband. Howard died of cancer four years ago, and he had groomed Creed to take his place. They were like father and son.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes. “But I saw Creed’s scars. It looked like he fought for dominance somewhere…”
Margy nodded, grief furrowing her eyebrows. “His father was a park ranger. He was killed by a rogue who wanted Creed’s mother. She was a lovely woman. She died too, trying to save her mate. Creed was sixteen. He hunted the wolf down in Vancouver and killed him. It was terrible. After that, he came back to us—
you see I’m his mother’s sister.”
Deanna stared at her in shock. “I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry!”
Margy patted her hand. “I’ve had a good life, despite these tragedies. And I still have the pack. I don’t think I could survive without it. And all these boys—they let me fuss over them as if they were my children. Stan even has a daughter. His wife’s human, but she’s a good woman. That child is like my grandbaby! But I miss having a woman to run with in the woods—another female. And I could use a few more babies to fuss over. Howard and I couldn’t have any.”
Deanna gave a startled laugh. “I think you’re way too far ahead of me now.” Though her hand went to her womb and she wondered. Why hadn’t they used protection? She was a grown woman and should have thought of it, but when she was with Jackson, thoughts seem to fly out the window.
But babies?
Was she ready for instant husband, family, pack? A painful and powerful longing rose in her that she hadn’t even realized was there. Jackson was still a stranger—but he didn’t feel that way. She could touch his awareness even now, closer and warmer than any pack connection. The mating bonds flowed back and forth between them, even when they were apart.
She reached up and touched her shoulder through the sweatshirt she wore.
When Jackson came back, bringing pizza and his other wolves, he looked at her funny as if he could sense her turbulent thoughts. She couldn’t help but watch him and the rest of…her pack? Was she going to accept them? Well, they were risking their lives for her, and maybe it was time to stop being ungrateful.
She walked over to where they gathered at the counter and shyly joined in.
Jackson put his hand on her shoulder and kissed the top of her forehead. “Stop worrying so much. You’re going to give us all a headache.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The men stripped in the back room, and while they did, Deanna went to the front windows to look out at the twilight-shrouded parking lot. The road beyond was empty of traffic, and the lights flickered at the edge of the street. The sun had disappeared beyond the trees, and the light in the sky bled slowly away, leaving the world to grey dusk and fading shadows.
The Alpha Page 4
