Vulfen Enforcer's Mate [Vulfen Cadre 5] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Laina Kenney

  Her car horn blared in the night and Biff jumped, but before she could make a move, Whistler moved in a whirl of wind and shadows, and the man rushing in at her right fell to the ground with a muffled thud and didn’t move.

  Biff came in fast and hard, faster than any drunk should be able to move, but his fingertips barely brushed her arm before a growl sounded and Whistler was there. In seconds, Biff was writhing on the pavement.

  The Whistler stood over him, watching him.

  “I told you to run,” the Whistler said, and the softness of his voice did nothing to mask the danger. The very coldness of the tone made Maressa’s stomach jump. What was he capable of?

  The door bumped her back as Todd barreled through, ready for anything, but the fight was over almost before it had begun, with one man left standing. He wasn’t even breathing hard.

  “What the fuck? What’s going on?” Todd shouted.

  Maressa shut off the alarm and Todd’s last word echoed oddly from the bricks and pavement.

  Maressa gestured.

  “The troublemaker from the bar,” Todd said. He walked over and looked down at Biff. He shifted his weight and kicked the downed man hard in the ass.

  “Cops will be here in a minute, idiot,” he said and whipped off his belt to tie Biff’s hands. “You got kicked out for harassing the bar staff and then waited to jump a woman outside a bar? The cops are gonna just love you.”

  Maressa turned to thank her rescuer, but the man had his back against the brick wall. His head was hanging down and he was clenching and unclenching his fists and taking deep careful breaths.

  What was going on? He had been breathing well right after the fight, if anyone could even call it a fight. What was wrong with him?

  She approached cautiously.

  “Thank you.”

  He nodded and his teeth gleamed in the semi-darkness. She leaned closer. It really looked like he had fangs there for a minute. She shook off her bizarre fantasy to concentrate on his voice when he spoke again.

  “My pleasure,” he said, but his deep voice was hoarse. The icy freeze in his voice that had so alarmed her was long gone and in its place was a searing heat.

  Maressa blinked. Was that faint glow coming from his eyes? No, it must be a trick of the light bouncing off the puddles in the uneven pavement.

  “Are you all right?” she asked. “Did they injure you?”

  “I am uninjured.”

  Hmm, the man was not a talker. Maressa ignored his dangerous attractiveness and tried again.

  “You stepped in and helped me when a lot of people would have walked away. Is there anything I can do to help you now?”

  His head came up and Maressa stifled a gasp at the fierce intensity of his gaze. A lock of dark hair fell over his forehead and framed a face of such masculine beauty that he should be lounging on a billboard somewhere. He would make millions. Except that, mesmerized as she was, she couldn’t deny that he made her warning system hesitate with the clear knowledge of danger.

  “Those men dared to threaten you and I want them both dead,” he said. His eyes were glowing. Did he work at a nuclear plant or something? What was wrong with his eyes?

  Some impulse had her moving in close to him when she should be running in the other direction.

  She put her hand on his arm and he groaned.

  “I am hanging on to my control by the thinnest thread. I cannot go near those men right now, or I will tear them to pieces. It would be the work of seconds and they would never attack another woman again. The world does not need more men like these. I want their blood to spill in my hands.”

  Maressa froze. She couldn’t doubt the truth of his words and she knew his assessment was accurate. Even outnumbered two to one, the larger men hadn’t stood a chance against him. He had defeated both men in under a half a minute. He was that good.

  Todd walked over.

  “All good. The bastards are tied up,” he said, dusting off his hands. “I didn’t do much damage. They’re not in good shape already and the guy who’s conscious doesn’t even know what the hell happened to him. His ribs are bruised at the very least and his shoulder looks to be dislocated but he didn’t see a damned thing. I’m not objecting, you understand, but what the hell did you do to them?”

  “I let them live.”

  His voice was flat and his eyes never left her face.

  Maressa shivered involuntarily.

  Todd shrugged and held out his hand to the man.

  Maressa felt an odd sense of panic and her throat tightened in fear. Her warning system was shrieking. She had no idea what would happen, but the Whistler straightened away from the wall and reached out for Todd’s hand.

  “Todd O’Brian.”

  “Ives Toussand.”

  That velvet accent again, the one that made her think of long afternoons on silky sheets. She had been to Paris once as a teenager, but she had never had the kind of deep sensual reaction to the accent when she was there. It was all due to the man in front of her. There was just something about him that made her thoughts wander into inappropriately sexy places.

  The men shook hands.

  “Damn, but I wish I’d seen that fight,” Todd said admiringly when one of the men on the ground groaned and rolled over to retch into the gutter.

  “It wasn’t much of a fight,” Maressa said slowly. She had seen it and she still couldn’t describe it. By the time she had realized it was happening, it was over and the two bigger men were down and out. She imagined it must be even more shocking for the men on the ground.

  Ives flicked a glance over her.

  “Are you trying to insult me?” he asked, and she shook her head. She might have panicked, but the barest hint of humor hid in his voice. Unexpectedly, it made her want to smile.

  She looked over as a police car pulled into the little alley. The lights were flashing but the siren wasn’t going.

  Todd squinted at the driver and started over to the car.

  “It’s Don,” he said, and there was relief in his tone.

  Maressa knew that Don was some kind of a distant relative in Todd’s big Irish family and she recognized his partner from their occasional evenings in the bar. Don had even asked her out a few times and he was a good man, but she always politely declined. She was no criminal, and she had her own reasons for avoiding the police, but she was glad to see him tonight.

  * * * *

  Ives stood beside the human female, body angled protectively, and watched the humans on the ground with a frankly predatory focus. He was pleased to see the police approaching. They would take away the temptation he battled with every breath. He was calmer now, but he still wanted to kill the men on the ground.

  And the presence of the woman had him fighting his ancient instinct with every hard beat of his heart. His muscles were rock hard, blood pumping hot. His reaction to her nearness was primal and extreme.

  She was his mate and instinct had him by the throat. He was in bad shape and he knew it. His fangs had been out and he wondered if she had noticed the faint glow of his eyes. She wasn’t backing away in fear, so she probably hadn’t noticed. She thought he was human.

  He could hear the bar owner explaining the situation to the police officer as the second officer shoved the first attacker into the squad car.

  When the cuffs snapped into place on the larger male, the man struggled and froze from the pain of his battered ribs. Ives bared his teeth with satisfaction. He had taken a few more quick shots than were strictly necessary. The man might not know it yet, but he wouldn’t be able to move tomorrow.

  “She’s been asking for it all night,” the man whined to the cop. “Bitch had her hands all over me.”

  Ives snarled but held his ground against the red wave of rage that roared through his blood.

  “That was the wrong thing to say,” the taller cop said and gave the man a hard shake. “She give you that swollen cheek and the pretty shiner? You look beat to shit. It’s a real improvement from
the last time I saw you.”

  Claws raked his insides, wanting to emerge fully, but he fought them back. The threat was over, enemies whimpering in fear and pain, and he needed to keep his cool. He must appear as human as possible, at least until the police interview was over.

  The police would need to speak to him for their report and take a statement from him, but he had been careful. He had ended the fight quickly and he hadn’t left any marks on the men that couldn’t have been left by an angry human male.

  Both men would be in pain, bruised, and possibly concussed, but they had laid hands on his mate and though she hadn’t run from them, she had smelled of fear.

  The thought was intolerable. His fangs, which had been receding, dropped to full extension again and he fought back a roar of outrage.

  Those men should be grateful to live and breathe. He still wasn’t sure it was the wisest course to leave such scum alive, but he didn’t want his mate’s first memory of their union to be one of him tearing into live humans like a wild beast. Rage killings created such a poor first impression.

  He was a man of intelligence, a diplomat under normal circumstances, but that didn’t negate the wave of emotions washing over him in the presence of his unclaimed mate. His need to eliminate every threat to her, gorge on the blood of her enemies, went beyond instinct.

  He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and take her to the safety of his home with one hand resting on her rounded bottom.

  His fingers flexed, wanting to grasp that seductive womanly flesh. Her waist was narrow but her hips were curved and her bottom would be a generous handful. He would squeeze and play and scrape the beautiful curves so gently with careful teeth until she gasped and cried with pleasure.

  His cock throbbed in time to his beating heart. She was standing so close, he could feel the warmth of her skin, could still detect a hint of fear under the layers of her luscious scent. It shook him, tested his iron control.

  “I want my lawyer,” the larger man said, but his last word was a gasp of pain as he moved.

  Ives stepped forward and the man scrambled into the back of the cop car quickly, groaning in misery. The partner shut the door behind him.

  “I’ve been in a few fights in my time. He’s gonna hurt twice as bad tomorrow,” Todd said. “He’ll be just one giant bruise sitting in his jail cell cryin’. Does my heart good.”

  Todd was standing close to the taller cop and their scents marked them as family.

  The cop shook his head. “He’s a repeat, small time stuff and mostly non-violent that we know of until tonight. Can’t think of his name, but I’ve seen him down at the station before. He’ll get bail, though, no problem. I’ll try to make a case against him, since he just keeps fucking up, but if the courts run true to form he’ll be out again by this time tomorrow. I’m advising you to up the security around here, Todd. He’s got his eye on Maressa and I don’t like what I’m thinking.”

  Ives’s claws popped out in anger and he shoved his hands into his pockets. He knew his eyes were still glowing, and that wouldn’t fade anytime soon. He was in a murderous mood. His deepest instinct was still howling for blood.

  The two would-be attackers were still too close, protected only by the thin metal of a modern car. Ives could rip through a car door and have their throats torn out in under a minute. He wanted it with a power that shook him.

  He gave his statement to the second police officer while Don asked Maressa and Todd a few questions.

  He kept his statement short, a man who had seen a woman in trouble and felt the need to help. A normal human male, he hoped, though his eyes were probably still giving off a fading glow. It helped that with the attackers closed in the cop car, their scents weren’t insulting him every moment with their continued presence.

  He would let the humans deal with their own problem tonight. But if they didn’t deal with it, if they set the men free, no matter. As a predator, Ives could be frighteningly patient, and the scent of the leader was burned into his nostrils. The man would not escape him twice.

  “So the fight lasted maybe two minutes and both the men are in bad shape,” the second cop said, and there was a question in his eyes as he looked Ives up and down. “You some kind of martial artist?”

  “I train daily,” Ives said. If his tone was just short of a growl, it couldn’t be helped.

  It was the truth that he and some of his fellow Cadre members trained in human martial arts, but the tricks he had used on the two attackers tonight had been straight from the gutters of Paris. Two arrogant thugs who were more used to bullying women wouldn’t stand a chance against a warrior who had grown up hard and fast.

  The cop nodded and closed his notebook. “Well, don’t get carried away, but you did some good with it tonight. I could be filing a very different report. Wouldn’t want to see Maressa the way I’ve seen too many others.”

  Ives nodded when he wanted to howl in fury at the thought of what might have been.

  Maressa came over to him as the cops drove off with their whining cargo.

  He looked her over with a critical eye.

  “You will need a ride home,” he said.

  “No, I’m okay. I can drive myself home.” Her voice wasn’t quite steady.

  “It would not be safe. Your hands are shaking badly.”

  Maressa seemed surprised to see that they were trembling. She stared at her hands.

  His heart turned over in his chest. She was holding it together so well, she had fooled herself. Ives took a risk.

  “I would only follow you anyway to be sure you are safe for the night. As a protector, I cannot do less. Let me drive you home. I am offering to drive you home in your own car, and then you will have it at your disposal.”

  Maressa sighed. “Thanks, but—”

  “Please.”

  After a long silence, she handed him her keys.

  “It’s only about four blocks,” she said.

  They got in her car, Maressa in the passenger side. She had to move some bags of books around to find a place to put her feet.

  She gave him the direction when they left the alley and they were at her home in no time. Ives parked her old car in the vacant driveway.

  “Todd’s aunt rents us the top half of her house,” Maressa said, “but she doesn’t drive anymore. My sister and I take her out to do her grocery shopping every week, and make dinners for her freezer. Sometimes we do little chores for her when we’re there and she keeps a list of the stuff that’s harder for her.”

  Ives heard what she didn’t say and wondered if Maressa realized how much that short statement told him about the importance of the elderly woman and the lack of other people in her life. It really sounded like she had a world that consisted of her sister, her boss, and his elderly aunt. She worked at work and she worked at home.

  Ives didn’t think it was the time to tell her that was about to change. He admired her drive and her need to take care of her tiny family, but he would not allow her to reach a state of burn out.

  He handed her keys back and walked her to the door.

  “You don’t have to,” she said a couple of times, but he did have to. He had to know that she would be safe tonight or he would never be able to leave her there. His wolf was already tugging at the reins, wanting to hold her, wanting more.

  “Oh, how will you get home?” Maressa asked.

  Ives took his cell phone out of his pocket, sent a text, and put it away.

  “Oh. Well, good,” she said, but she didn’t sound happy.

  He felt the connection between them also. It burned in his soul, but it was too soon for her, whether her body knew it or not. She was riding the fine edge of exhaustion. And her hands were still trembling. His protective instincts rose with a vengeance.

  He could take advantage of the undeniable chemistry between them and have her, but a quick roll wasn’t what he wanted with her. He wanted it all with her, and he knew that with a good firm grip on his patience, he could lay the fo
undation tonight without compromising their tomorrows.

  “Maressa.” He whispered her beautiful name and she stopped.

  He stroked her face and the softness of her skin drew him in. Her eyes widened at his approach, then fluttered shut at the first touch of lips.

  He kept the kiss light, gentle, until the taste of her went to his head and she was nudging at his brushing mouth as if asking for more. Then he delved deep, showing her the barest edge of the bottomless hunger she inspired in him. He didn’t want to frighten her, only to show her that she was the center.

  He plunged over and over with his stiffened tongue, wallowing in her taste, taking her in the only way that he could. His arm slid around her back and Ives drew her closer. She felt perfect in his arms.

  His body was pumping off heat like a forest fire. Kissing Maressa was so different from anything that had gone before that he was almost out of control before he even knew he was close to the edge.

  Her body arched into his as if blown by a strong wind and she clung, the softness of her belly cradling the urgent thrust of his cock. The scent of her arousal and the sweet little whimper she made burned through his blood and he had to back away before he lost his mind and seduced her on the front porch in full view of anyone passing.

  He pulled back from the brink and held her at arm’s length while she frowned and tried to get closer to him again. She didn’t understand yet that they had to stop, or they would never stop.

  “Easy. Easy, now,” he said.

  She was the most beautiful sight in the world to him, with her slumberous dark eyes, pouting lips, and her soft hair caressing the back of his hand. It took every ounce of control he possessed to take one last lingering taste and step back.

  She looked a little lost, so he took her keys and opened the door for her, gently steering her into the darkened kitchen. His cock was raging at him and every beat of his blood demanded his mate. He forced his hand to uncurl from around her arm.

  A light burned in the hall, and he heard sounds from upstairs, a china cup being set down on wood, the scratch of a pencil, the swish of a page turning in a book.