by Bonnie Vanak
Still in wolf form, Gabriel snarled and then raced into the limo, leaping on the seat.
Dante, the black wolf shifted back, his clothing appeared on his now human form.
The other wolf, Guy, did the same. Dante shook his hand and then did some odd clasp of forearms. Maybe it was a shifter thing.
“Thanks for saving my ass,” Guy told him.
“Thank you for helping us,” Dante said. “My warriors are yours.”
“As are mine.”
Dante headed for the limo, saw me standing there. He swore and hustled me inside, then took a seat on the long row opposite me, while Gabriel sat on my right, Alex on my left. Gabriel had shifted back into human form, clad in jeans and a black T-shirt.
Guarding me.
“Peyton, you need to listen to me,” Alex chided.
“You could have had your throat torn out. Damnit, you just stood there,” Gabriel scolded.
“Where were you?” I asked Gabriel.
“Checking out the alley. I had smelled more than one Brown and had to do recon to make sure Brown hadn’t brought his whole damn pack.”
He shoved a hand through his long hair. “Peyton, you have to listen to us. You could have been hurt or even killed.”
I stared at the floor. He was right.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I just…froze.”
Silence hung in the air for a minute. Dante broke it.
“Next time, do as we say and stay behind. Understand?”
Dante’s voice was low, deep and controlled. I knew how angry he was only because I’d heard him use the same tone on a fellow club patron just before he punched him in the face for pinching the butt of a startled waitress.
Gabriel added in a gentler voice, “Peyton, we don’t want anything happening to you. Until you learn how to defend yourself against our kind, you have to learn to trust our advice.”
Alex tensed. “Our choices make us, Peyton, and you made a bad one. We’ll guide you into making wise ones around shifters, but you have to listen to us.”
There was much I didn’t know about shifter culture, even though I’ve worked amongst them for two years. When a shifter was in human form and as obnoxious as skinny, whining Earl Brown, they could turn into vicious killing machines.
From this night forward, things would change. I sensed I could never return to my old ways.
Not if I wanted to keep my skin intact.
The guys beside me were quiet. Dante was on his cell, speaking in a low voice. I guessed he relayed the latest threat to the pack back home.
Alex reached for a glass, poured a shot of whiskey and handed it to me. Usually I seldom indulge, but I tossed it back. Liquid nerves.
Nearly being torn apart by Earl Brown will do that to a girl.
Tension rippled through the car. I knew the three of them were mad at me because they worried. They cared.
The closeness we’d shared only a few hours ago had faded, replaced with a clear hierarchy. As alpha, Dante made the rules, and Gabriel and Alex were in charge of enforcing them.
I needed to distract myself, recover from the horrible trauma of facing a wolf that wanted to kill me. Trapped with the guys in the limo, now was a good time to find out about the inner workings of pack life.
“Guy looks like a powerful wolf. Were those alpha markings?”
Alex nodded.
“I thought he was just a bouncer,” I said.
“Guy’s the alpha of the Ford pack in Colorado.” Gabriel flexed his hands, as if he itched to strangle someone. Perhaps Earl Brown. “He only works at the club for one reason.”
“Tax income?” I offered, trying to make light of a very dark and grim situation.
“Protection. He has a serious thing for Stephanie, and doesn’t want anyone to know it because the moment someone does, she’s toast.” Gabriel narrowed his eyes.
“Someone would hurt her simply because an alpha werewolf likes her?” It made no sense to me, but this was shifter politics.
“Guy has enemies in Colorado as we do,” Alex said, tensing. “By staying at the club and being the weekend bouncer, he can watch over her without anyone realizing his interest.”
I wondered if Stephanie knew his interest. Then again, Steph was wise to the ways of shifters, being one herself. I was green and naïve.
And damn tired. I had only wanted to go home and sleep, but now found myself headed toward Dante’s ranch for the weekend.
Without any idea of what awaited me…
14
Dante
The ride home promised to be excruciating. I only wanted to grab Peyton and whisk her away, far from danger.
Peyton had grown quiet and I sensed the adrenalin kick had faded, leaving her exhausted. I signaled Alex with my eyes and nodded, and he told her to lie down on the empty seat.
Stretched out on the leather seat, she fell asleep. Gabriel fetched a blanket from the drawer under the mini bar and draped it over her. Alex found a pillow and tucked it under her head.
Good thing my betas were on top of caring for our lady, for I remained far too angry.
Shaken.
Alex and Gabe settled into the back seat, each at a window gazing at the city as it passed in a blur of lights. In front, my driver Mason navigated through the streets while one of my fiercest fighters, James, sat shotgun. Literally shotgun, for the long gun rested in his lap instead of its customary place on the rack above their heads.
They took no chances. A blast from a shotgun may not kill a werewolf, but it will cause enough damage to speed away and get to a safer place.
“That was close. Too damn close.” I narrowed my eyes and extended my hand, claws erupting from my nails to drive home my point.
Alex frowned while Gabriel compressed his lips. I knew he wanted to say something, and held back.
“Well?”
“You keep forgetting, Dante. She may be psi, but she’s still human,” he finally told me.
The claws retracted. I had forgotten. I had gotten swept up into the sweetness of her, the passion she displayed, the vitality of Peyton, that I’d forgotten her vulnerability. Peyton couldn’t shift and race away from danger or use fangs to protect herself.
I doubted she even practiced self-defense against human males, let alone dangerous, sly shifters like the Browns.
“She’s defenseless against another possible attack,” I said, pointing out the obvious.
At least until we shared the secret with her of how her psi gift could harm our kind.
Not that I’d let either Brown get within fifty yards of her.
“And what are we going to do about that?” Alex challenged. “It’s not as if you can teach her how to shift.”
Lifting a brow, I considered the younger werewolf’s bristling assertion. Seldom had Alex displayed such spunk. He’d always been respectful, but quiet in stating his opinion. Not now. Waves of aggressive energy radiated off him as he fisted his hands, his breaths coming rapidly, his glare directed at me.
Enormously pleased, I allowed myself to relax a little. If Peyton got Alex this emotional and protective, it meant Alex was hooked on her. Gabriel looked equally agitated, but Alex’s feelings concerned me more, for he disliked most skin woman.
For my plan to work, my betas had to feel as connected to Peyton as I did.
I pointed at Alex. “We are going to work together on this young lady this weekend. Alex, your job is to woo her with romance. I will introduce her to our way of life. And Gabriel, you will teach her to fight.”
Gabe blinked at me. “Seriously? Fight like a male?”
I smiled. “Fight like a girl. A kick ass girl. Wonder Woman style.”
Both of them ruminated over the idea. Alex’s shoulders lost some of their tension. “Good plan.”
“I can research skin self-defense for women, teach her some easy moves that will give her enough time to get away,” Gabriel mused.
“How about gouging out eyeballs and ripping off testicles?” Mil
d Alex had been infuriated at the Browns’ attack. He wanted revenge.
“Start with the easy things for Peyton.” I shook my head as Gabe started to pick up the limo phone. “Not now. I want you both to rest. We have much work ahead of us… and…”
I glanced at our sleeping beauty. “Much pleasure as well.”
They settled back against the seat. Gabriel pointed at me. “What about you?”
Bending over, I reached for the slim laptop kept in a case under the mini bar. “Never mind me. Get some rest. That’s an order.”
Minutes later, they were fast asleep. When they’d first come into my pack, I taught Alex and Gabe how to slip into REM sleep quickly, as skins do in the military. It’s a matter of training your mind. Just as combat soldiers master this talent so they can rest in the field between engaging the enemy, I needed my men rested and ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
Pulling up a map of the ranch and the surrounding territory, I used a software program Alex installed for me to demarcate the weakest borders where the Browns could slip onto our land. Patrols would ensue at those areas, with high tech cameras and security monitors installed as well.
Then I emailed the plan to my men waiting at the ranch, as well as Gabe, Alex, James and Mason.
For us to function as a pack, we functioned as a highly efficient, oiled fighting machine. Every member knew their place and their duties. During critical times like this, when our borders were challenged by enemies, no one rested easily.
Every male was on high alert. The females as well, but their job was to protect the weaker members, the old and frail ones, the young and the pregnant females.
I’d meant it when I told Gabe to teach Peyton to fight like a girl. I’d seen Chloe, one of my mated females, rip apart a shifter who dared to try to steal one of our babies. The shifter was fortunate enough to remain alive, although he’ll never father children of his own.
Hard to do that when he’s missing both his balls.
Satisfied I’d covered my bases, I opened a file on our investment portfolio and began analyzing stock acquisitions and data.
Absorbed in my work, I almost didn’t notice the shift in the air. But I am attuned to her, and the slightest change in her breathing.
Peyton was awake.
She sat up, the blanket spilling to her waist. Sleep dazed her lovely face, but could not disguise the confusion there as well.
Questions danced in her eyes. Questions I knew I’d have to answer to her satisfaction.
If I wanted her to do exactly as the three of us had hoped.
15
The silence in the limo felt deafening as I struggled to climb out of a sluggish nap.
Silence that was broken only the hum of tires against roadway, and the faint clicking of a keyboard. I opened one eye, saw Dante sitting kitty-corner to me, working on a steel gray laptop. It looked more expensive than the refurbished computer I’d bought second-hand.
Eyeing me, he closed the lid, set the computer into a side pocket by his seat. I had the feeling this was his mobile office, where he’d made million dollar deals and commanded his pack. There was much I didn’t know about Dante, or his people.
He regarded me with that dark, smoldering gaze of his. I’d seen his eyes turn to ice when I’d climbed inside this mobile wolf mobile. Not that I wanted to invite that kind of look again. I’d rather see him hot and hungry instead of cold and angry.
But his gaze turned mild. He bent over the mini bar, selected a cocktail glass. “Would you care for a drink? Whiskey? Champagne?”
I shook my head. Champagne or any kind of spirits wasn’t a good idea. I needed to stay sharp. The nap had not been refreshing. Instead it left me groggy and out of sorts.
After being targeted by the Browns, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down. Not even around the three shifters who protected me. After all, they were wolves too.
“We have soda, tea and water as well.”
“Water, please. No ice.”
Opening a small fridge, he selected a bottle of cold water. I thanked him and drank deeply.
Tangling with a mad werewolf tended to make a girl thirsty.
I searched for a safe conversational topic. Home would suffice.
“How long has the ranch been in your family?”
Reflected in the limo’s dim light, his eyes glowed green, like an animal’s does when you shine a light into them at night. Another reminder that I did not ride in a fancy limousine with a billionaire, but a billionaire wolf shifter.
“My grandfather purchased the land years ago and put a small cabin there. The ranch came along later, when my father inherited. I merely added to it.”
I’d seen pictures of Dante’s ranch Gabriel had shown me one time when we talked about the monthly cage fighting near Cheyenne.
The main lodge was fashioned in a T shape, hewn from wood, with a balcony on the second floor. It overlooked a green pasture where horses grazed. Pine and oak trees flanked the lodge, giving it the feeling of being in the forest. That area of Wyoming wasn’t wide open grasslands like the areas north of Cheyenne. A river dissected the property, and provided plenty of irrigation and drinking water for the pack.
“And yet, unlike other shifter properties, you’ve never allowed humans to stay overnight.” I wondered about this. Did Dante and his pack disdain human company, associating with them only as necessary?
“Until now.”
That news made me uneasy. Too many firsts tonight, but being the first human on his ranch was more dangerous than what had transpired back in the club.
“Why? Don’t you like humans?”
Dante leaned back, rubbed a hand across his lower face. Dark bristles shadowed his chiseled jawline. The beard hadn’t been there previously. Guess the fight with the Brown brothers triggered it. I’d seen similar beard bristle on shifters after they got aggressive and their testosterone shot up.
“I believe skins are fine,” he said, referring to humans with the term shifters used. “However, the rest of my family has held certain prejudices about them over the years. Grandfather handed down the property and holdings with the strict clause in his will that only creatures with four legs could be on our land.”
“None? Not cowboys or repair people or even visitors?”
A brief smile touched his face. “My father amended the rule when he inherited. He allowed in skins on horses, so technically there were only creatures on four legs. I changed it further when we had trouble finding skilled workers to maintain the grounds. Ordinary skins are allowed as visitors, but they cannot stay more than eight hours.”
“Except for me.”
He reached over, placed a hand on my knee. “You’re psi, Peyton. Not an ordinary skin.”
But a skin, nonetheless, with flesh that could be torn and ripped. “Do you have that rule because you’re wolves and can be violent?”
Impossible for him to lie about this, for I witnessed firsthand the viciousness of the Browns, and Dante and Gabriel’s equally ferocious defense. Dante’s expression grew solemn.
“We do not deny what we are, Peyton. However, shifters are less likely than skins to attack without just cause. We do not murder each other as skins do, nor do we fight without provocation. If it’s your safety concerning you, know that you are more protected on my ranch than you are anywhere else. Even a skin police station with dozens of weapons around you.”
Anger tinged his voice. I swallowed hard. Not a good idea to offend a wolf when you were speeding on a dark highway, miles away from home.
“I didn’t mean to insult you or any of your kind. I only pointed out what I’ve learned over the years.”
He sighed and rubbed his chin with a knuckle. “I know. I am tired of these myths perpetuated by skins who equate us to monsters. We are not monsters, Peyton. We protect our own, even to death. You will never find a fiercer loyalty than with a wolf pack.”
I glanced at Alex and Gabriel. Utterly loyal to Dante, the alpha, yet they had pr
otected me from the Brown’s aggression.
“Why go to all these extremes for me, Dante? I’m just another human woman. Surely you’ve had human lovers before…” I glanced again at Alex and Gabriel. “And shared them.”
Cynicism darkened his expression. He leaned forward, arms resting on his outstretched legs. “Peyton, you are far from just another skin. I’ve wanted you since we first met.”
A flash of white, gleaming teeth. “And what I want, I stop at nothing to get.”
I knew his ruthless streak. Dante wouldn’t be an alpha without it. I’d seen him wait patiently at the club for the perfect steak cooked as he ordered. I’d seen him pursue, on four paws, a drunk human who accidentally walked into the club and then thought he’d drive home. I’d even seen him in the city hunting down a pack member who’d disobeyed him, and collaring the male to bring him home for punishment.
Never had any of that remorseless intensity been aimed at me. Not until tonight in the club when he lay between my legs.
Never did I imagine he’d direct it at me because he liked me, wanted me as a male did.
“You’ve had me,” I pointed out. “You shelled out half a million for me. Is this simply about sex, or something more, Dante?”
He stood, pulled me up and onto his lap. Then the alpha bent his head, his warm breath feathering over my cheek as he whispered into my ear.
“More.”
More could mean many things. Right now I knew only one thing I wanted.Connecting with Dante through sex would give me the reassurance I needed in a topsy turvey night where angry wolves came at me and wanted to rip me to shreds. Watch me bleed to death, simply because I refused to give them what they wanted.
I wanted to give it to Dante instead. I climbed off his lap.
Slowly I unzipped his trousers. Dante went still. “Peyton,” he murmured.
A hiss escaped him as I got on my knees and took him into my mouth. Thick, so very thick and long, he could only fit halfway. Inexperienced as I was, I let instinct guide me. I sucked him as his betas had sucked me, licking my way around him as if he were the most delicious ice cream cone. He tasted slightly of salt, and caramel. Yum.
