by Desiree Holt
Smoothing out the comforter, he saw he had guessed correctly. The same image was reproduced there. Who had made the comforter? Had she taken the sketch from the fabric or the other way around? Whichever it was, they were good indications that here, in this room, her very private place, she felt comfortable being who she really was.
Now he was anxious to make her feel at ease enough with him, secure enough in their situation to change for him. His blood pumped in his veins at the thought and his heartrate accelerated. It struck him that in twenty-four hours, his life had once again turned upside down, although this time perhaps for the better. He’d met a woman who made him feel alive again—and he thought nothing of the fact she was a shifter. Was anxious, in fact, to see her in wolf form. He shook his head in amazement.
Beneath the window was a bookcase, the shelves jammed with books. In addition to the allotment of romance novels he’d expected to find (Felicia had been addicted to them as well), he found a mixture of thrillers and mysteries, action and suspense. And an entire shelf devoted to the subject of shape shifters and werewolves.
He crouched down to skim the titles. Werewolves and Other Shapeshifters in Popular Culture. Werewolves, Witches, and Wandering Spirits. The Book of Werewolves. The History of and Essential Guide to Shapeshifters. The entire shelf was crammed with volumes. Dante pulled one out at random and flipped it open.
“Shapeshifters are Awakened animals who have the ability to assume human form. In general, though some shapeshifters mingle with metahuman society and even work as shadowrunners, most shapeshifters prefer to live in wilderness areas, apart from civilization.”
Desolation Ranch certainly fulfilled that description. But the shifting Night Seekers had all been living as part of society before being tapped by Craig.
Okay, he really needed to get into this. If what he and Regan had was the beginning of a relationship, he needed to study shifters a lot more than he had up until now.
He took that book and two others that looked promising and put them on the dresser for the moment.
In her large walk-in closet, he found the oversized duffel she told him about and pulled the list she gave him from his pocket. Very methodically he went about packing the items she requested. Everything was where she’d said it would be, including the delicate undies that felt like bits of froth in his hands. He couldn’t resist holding them to his face for just a moment, inhaling the fresh scent she washed them in.
He noticed that the colors she used carried through to her wardrobe but in more vibrant tones. Here the purple was a deep violet, the blue the color of the ocean, the green reminiscent of freshly bloomed foliage after a rain. Everything shouted her combination of softness and strength.
He shoved the books he’d set aside into the duffel, along with the cosmetics bag he’d found in the bathroom, and zipped it shut. In her office, he found the briefcase she’d told him about and filled it with her laptop and her sketching materials. Then, walking through the house to take a last look around, he eased out the back door, locking it and making his way across the yard. His eyes scanned everywhere, looking, watching, but he made it back to the car without anyone stopping him. A few more seconds and he was down the street and gone from the area.
And as he headed back to the ranch, he thought about the woman sharing his bed and invading his mind. And the changes she was no doubt about to bring to his life. Was already bringing. And wondered if he was really ready for them.
* * * * *
“Well, I think the damn dog has finally disappeared.” Ron Hammond pulled his horse up next to his father’s, took off his hat to wipe his forehead on his sleeve and stuck the hat back on his head.
“I sure hope so,” Dan said. “It was getting to be a pain in the ass.”
“Before I saddled up this morning, I called the county building to see who had construction jobs going on around here. There aren’t that many so it was easy to get a list. I gave it to Jacie and asked her to make some calls while she’s nursing that cold of hers. Figured she’d be the best person, being in real estate and all.”
Dan chuckled. “I’ll bet she hates being locked up in that house. Your wife almost never sits still.”
“You got that right. At least it keeps her occupied. She said she’d ring my cell if she found out anything.”
Dan told him about the animal carcasses Russ had found. “So it may not be someone’s pet who got lost. But it won’t hurt to check. I’m pretty sure it didn’t find its way out from town. That’s a very long way for a stray to come.”
“I thought so too. I told Jacie to dig around that area on her laptop as a last resort but it’s just a shot in the dark. I mean, it had to come from someplace, right?” He looked around. “Who’s riding fence today?”
“Harley is,” Dan told him. “I keep telling him he can leave that to you younger guys but you’d think I’d given him the ultimate insult instead of trying to make things easier for him.”
“No shit,” Russ snorted. “Talk about someone who’s gonna die with their boots on. Let’s hope he doesn’t decide to spend the night at the line shack just to spite us.”
“I’ll give him a holler on the radio late this afternoon. But you know as well as I do, if he’s made up his mind there’s no talking him out of it.” Dan resettled his own hat on his head. “Let’s get to it, then. We’ve got one more section of the herd to move before we’re done for the winter.”
* * * * *
Dante found Regan in the war room, sitting between Ric and Sam Brody. All three were working at keyboards on the long desk against the wall. Sam was another one who had yet to head an investigation for the team, although he’d taken trips to Georgia and the Florida Panhandle to check out reports around the same time Jonah went to South Texas on the case where he met Dakota. A former detective with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Sam was one of the six original shifters. He was a big man, quiet and thoughtful, and seemed angrier than the others that someone had decided to mess with DNA to create creatures from a nightmare.
“What we have as shifters is an ancient heredity,” he said once. “Whoever is doing this has not only created a frightening beast but is also disrespecting all of us.”
Even though he wasn’t a shifter himself, Dante agreed. He recalled that conversation as he walked into the war room and saw Sam sitting there. Now, with Regan in his life, his anger and rage at the person behind the creatures had taken on a new dimension.
He crossed the room to stand behind Regan, resting his hands lightly on her shoulders. She jumped when he touched her, then relaxed when she turned and saw it was him.
“Sorry.” She gave him a fleeting grin. “I guess I was just so focused on what I was doing.”
“What are you guys working on?”
Ric leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face. “This thing at Wolf Mountain really messed with all my programs’ parameters,” he sighed. “But when I get this new program written, I’ll be able to create predictors as well as eliminate certain areas. I’ll also search for any of the usual indicators, like carcasses of small animals. Maybe even pets at outlying homes.” He inclined his head toward Regan. “She’s been helping me do searches. She’s damn good at this stuff.”
Regan shrugged. “Comes from helping my brother with his work.”
“But we don’t have an existing search engine with the right parameters. I’m going to fiddle around with it for the next few days and see what I can come up with.”
Sam said, “We’ve gotta figure out where the thing will attack next. It has to be close. So far, it seems a spot is always selected then narrowed down within the county to a smaller area. Each group of kills has been within a tight geographic circle.”
“It hasn’t hit a victim in a crowded area like the park before,” Ric reminded them. “We need to know why. And whether its hunting parameters have changed permanently or if this was an aberration.”
“Jesus.” Dante whistled softly. “This just gets more and
more complicated.”
“I think that’s what whoever is breeding them wants. To confuse us and everyone else so we never know where it’ll strike next. So we can’t be prepared.”
“I think I need a drink.” Dante nudged Regan up from her seat. “Can they spare you for a bit? I’ll open a bottle of wine or get you whatever drink you want.”
“Good idea.” She rose from her chair, one hand clutching his arm, lines of strain showing on her face. “That okay with you, Ric?”
“Absolutely. I think you’ve gotten enough to absorb for now.”
“I want to work on this with you some more,” she assured him. “I know I can contribute more than just my computer skills.”
“I agree.” He gave her a tired smile.
“Thank you.”
He leaned back in his chair again and rotated his neck to stretch the muscles. “Dante, just so you know, I put in a call to the chief of the Texas Rangers, Brad DeWitt, while you were gone.”
“Craig’s suggestion?” Dante asked.
“All mine. We’ve been pussyfooting around this and doing the political tiptoe dance. Meanwhile, we don’t know where this thing will attack next. We need the manpower of the Rangers and they need our knowledge and expertise.”
“So what was the response?” Dante asked.
“He was busy so I left a message. But If I don’t get a return call in another couple of hours I’m going to try again. Oh, and hey,” he called after them as they headed out of the big room. “Mark got an itch to broil steaks tonight. Dinner’s at seven.”
“We’ll be there,” Dante assured him.
He tugged Regan along as he left the room, taking a detour into the kitchen for a bottle of wine. “I’d like to put your things in my suite. Okay with you?”
“Oh. Absolutely.” She let out a long, slow breath. “I don’t think I want to be alone anyway.”
He could just imagine. A lot was crashing down on her in a short time.
“I think I know a way to make you feel better.”
And he did. Not only that, he badly wanted to. For a moment he had the feeling he was stepping into quicksand but he shook it off. Maybe Regan was his key to learning to live again. Whatever this was, he knew he couldn’t turn away from it.
They stopped briefly in her room for the bags he’d dropped off early. He carried them through his sitting area and into his bedroom proper, putting the two bags on his bed. Some of the tension eased from his body when she unzipped the duffel and began to put things away in his bedroom. Folded items in an empty drawer in the bureau. Her clothes beside his in the closet. Her things next to his in the bathroom.
He sat back on the bed, leaning against the pillows, enjoying the sight of her as she walked back and forth, the graceful way she moved, even the way she bit lightly on her lower lip as she decided where to put each item.
“Everyone’s been so nice,” she told him. “Nobody’s acted like it was weird that you just brought me here and now I’ve moved into your space with you. Not to mention the whole ‘Hello, I’m a shifter’ thing.”
He chuckled. “I’m sure they get a good read from you or we’d be having a different conversation.”
“I’m really grateful.”
He started to tell her what he wanted wasn’t her gratitude, but decided that when she finished putting her things away, he’d show her instead.
“Thanks for getting my herbs.” Regan held up the plastic container divided into compartments. I really need them.” She studied the container. “I’ll probably have to order more soon.”
“To keep your wolf under control.”
Her eyes widened at his words. “How did you know?”
“Impossible not to know stuff like that when most of the people you live with are shifters. And you won’t have to do any ordering.”
A hint of panic flashed across her face. “But—”
“Remember this morning when Dakota said she had work to do in the garden?”
“Yes?”
“When Jonah met her, she was living in a cabin in South Texas and growing a wide variety of herbs. All kinds of herbs. She sold them at farmers’ markets and places like that, and even has an internet site where she sold the harder-to-find ones.”
He could see her processing the information. “So she grows whatever you—I mean the others—need?”
“She does. Plus the ones she still sells on her website. You might take a minute to show her what you’re using, just in case she needs to add a thing or two. I’ve been told different people sometimes have different requirements.”
She gave him a smile that pierced his heart. “I know I’ve been here less than twenty-four hours but for the first time in a long time, I think I might be fitting in.”
She looked at the books she’d scooped up from the bed, then glanced at Dante.
“For you or for me?” she asked.
“For both of us.”
“Really?” She blinked back tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “Dante, I don’t know how…I just…”
He cleared his throat. “It’s okay. I, uh, thought I’d do some studying up on shifters and maybe you can help me. Answer some questions and stuff.”
She swiped at her eyes, still juggling the books. “You mean you’ve never discussed it with any of the shifters on the team?”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “To tell you the truth, Regan, I haven’t really talked to anyone about much of anything. I joined Night Seekers with one purpose—to find and destroy the beast that killed Felicia. I wasn’t interested in anything beyond that.” He cocked his head. “Until you came along.”
The look she gave him was so filled with emotion, his entire body clenched in response.
“Dante, I—”
“Hey. It’s okay.” He pushed himself off the bed and pulled her close. “I just want to make sure you know it’s all good here. Really.”
“Thank you so much. For everything.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “Let’s get your stuff put away and then we can discuss how you can thank me properly.”
“Okay.” She looked at the briefcase and turned back to him. “My work stuff. I need a desk to set up my laptop and a place to put my sketching materials.”
“No problem.” He reached for her hand. “This way.” He led her back through the sitting room and into a large alcove. An L-shaped desk was set up against two walls, with a comfortable-looking chair, and a small table sat in front of a bay window. “I never use the desk. I do all my computer work in the war room with Ric. And I’m hoping this light will be good enough for your drawing. We can get an easel brought in for you. Anything you’d like.”
She studied him for a long moment, teeth still worrying her lower lip. Then her lips curved in a smile and without warning, she threw herself at him, winding her arms around his neck.
“Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you.”
“Hey.” He wrapped his arms around her. “No big deal. And it’s my pleasure.”
He tilted her head and lowered his mouth to hers. The kiss began slowly, just meant to be soothing and reassuring. To ease the tension he could feel running through her body like a high-voltage wire. But the moment she slid her hands up to thread her fingers in his hair and pulled him closer, all gentleness fled and he ground his mouth against hers.
Her breasts pressed to his chest, the nipples such hard points he could feel them even through her sweater and his shirt. The kiss went from tender to greedy to ruthless in less than sixty seconds. He wanted to lick every sweet inch of her, absorb her into his system.
Jesus!
What was happening to him?
Then his brain took a vacation as his body took control. His tongue invaded her mouth, licking and tasting, teasing her own tongue to tangle with his. Her taste flooded him, igniting his nerve endings and swelling his cock so it strained painfully against his fly. He ate at her mouth, drank, sipped, took in every bit of it, all the while reveling in t
he feel of her hard nipples biting into him and the press of her body against his.
More. He needed more.
Yanking up the hem of her sweater, he slid his hands along the warm skin of her back until he reached the clasp of her bra. A flick of his fingers and it was open, one hand skimming around to cup a breast. His thumb teased the beaded tip, his reward her indrawn breath that pulled his tongue farther into her mouth. When he pinched the bud with his fingers, she moaned, her lips still tight against his, the sound warming every space inside him.
Her hands reached to tug his shirt from his jeans so she could reach bare skin, her fingernails raking over the flesh of his back. Shivers danced along his spine at her touch. He moved a hand to her hip, pulling her to him even more tightly, until his heavy shaft ground against her pubic bone. She was wet for him. He could smell her essence even through her clothes.
Shoving one large hand into her slacks, he found the bare skin of her ass beneath flimsy panties, and squeezed and kneaded until she cried out into his mouth. And still he kept their lips fused together, his tongue busy thrusting and licking. He trailed his fingertips along the crevice of her ass cheeks. She scraped her nails along his back again before slipping her hands around and wedging them between their bodies so she could find his nipples. Her nails brushing back and forth sent a blast of heat through him, his blood pumping faster and hotter.
Holy shit!
He needed to get them naked as soon as possible or for the first time since he was a horny teenager, he was liable to come in his pants. Reluctantly he tore his mouth from hers and yanked her sweater over her head. He tossed it aside, her bra quickly following. Dipping his head, he fastened his lips around one nipple, sucking it hard as he undid her slacks and pushed them and her panties down past her hips.
“Wait!” She broke the kiss. “Shoes. Have to take off my shoes.”
He waited impatiently as she toed them off, then he knelt to finish removing the rest of her clothing. He was eye level with her cunt, her curls a darker shade of gold than the hair on her head, gleaming at him temptingly. His fingers unexpectedly shaking, he spread the lips of her pussy and slowly drew his tongue the length of her slit.
