Igor grunted. “Not now. Maybe later. Are you hurt?”
Braden answered in the negative.
“Was anything stolen?”
With a shrug, Braden gestured around the room. “You can probably answer that question better than I can. Does it look like anything is missing?”
They made a halfway decent show of stomping around him, presumably checking.
“Not at first glance,” the second man finally offered. He hadn’t spoken before, and his heavily accented voice sounded deeper and more authoritative that the other’s.
“And you are?” Braden asked.
“My name is Igor.”
For now, Braden had no choice but to take their word for it. Most of his equipment and notes were all in the lab anyway, and he kept that door locked.
But then, this door had been locked also.
“We need to check the lab,” he said.
“We will, in good time. First, you need to tell us what you think the intruder was after.”
Clenching his jaw, Braden shook his head. “I have no idea. Anything I have of value is in the lab. We need to go there now.”
“Fine.” Igor sounded impatient. “Let’s go.”
Grabbing his cane, Braden followed them as they strode down the deserted hallway. He couldn’t help but wonder if this seemingly random act of violence was related to both the shooting in the forest and the explosion in his lab in Boulder. If Prince Ruben was to be believed, then the assailant would have simply shot him, killing him while he slept in his bed.
Unless…for some reason, perhaps this militant faction believed him to be close to discovering the secret. In that case, they’d want his research rather than him. Whoever controlled the knowledge would have all the power.
There was only one problem with this theory. Braden was nowhere close to discovering Alisa’s secret.
In which case, perhaps Alisa herself was in danger.
“We need to check on the princess,” he announced, barely managing to keep the panic from his voice.
Immediately, the two guards grabbed him, one on each side. “Why?” Thomas asked, suspicion in his voice.
“I’m afraid the man who broke into my room might be after her. Take my word for it.”
“We’ll check,” Igor said harshly. “Wait.”
Shaking his arm free, Braden listened as Thomas spoke quietly on what must have been a headset or cell phone.
“She’s safe,” Thomas announced a moment later.
“How do you know? Did someone check on her?”
“We have a guard stationed down the hall from her room. No one has come and gone on her floor. Now come on.” Thomas took Braden’s arm again. “Let’s go check out your lab.”
Braden broke away. “No. Not until you take me to Princess Alisa’s room so I can be sure.”
Thomas gave an exaggerated sigh and began conversing with Igor in Teslinkian. Finally, he agreed. “But we will not be waking her. We will go to her room, speak to the guard, and that will be enough.”
“I would like the guard to open her door and check on her.”
“We cannot wake the princess in the middle of the night!” Thomas sounded appalled and horrified.
“We don’t need to wake her. If her guard will do a quick check to make sure nothing has been disturbed, that will be enough.”
Again the men spoke to each other in their own tongue.
“Fine,” Igor finally spat his agreement. “We will do as you ask. Far be it from you to put our positions in jeopardy because you don’t believe her security detail can do their jobs.”
This time when Thomas grabbed Braden’s arm, he allowed it. From his door they turned right. He counted forty-seven paces before they made another right turn. At any moment, Braden expected them to encounter Alisa’s guard, but no one stopped them.
One more right turn put them on the opposite side of the building. Here, they met up with another man and Braden’s two escorts spoke in hushed tones with him. More smoke-smell. Did all of the guards use tobacco?
“He will go check the princess’s room,” Igor said quietly.
“We’ll follow him.” Braden’s tone left no room for argument.
This time, they simply humored him. He counted ten more steps to Alisa’s room before they stopped.
“Rok will go inside now,” Igor announced in a low voice.
Braden listened intently as Rok opened Alisa’s door, closing it softly behind him. After a moment, the door opened again and he emerged.
“She is fine, sleeping soundly. Her room has not been disturbed.”
“Thank you, Rok,” Igor said, satisfaction thickening his accent. “We will leave you to your post.”
Braden counted steps again as they went back in the direction of his room. He didn’t know what, but something was off.
“Now, we will check out your lab,” Thomas announced.
Still not entirely certain, Braden allowed the man to propel him forward. As they turned a left corner, he knew they were growing closer to his lab.
His escort’s footsteps slowed. “Wait here,” Igor ordered tersely. “The door is open.”
Chapter 11
Damn. Braden’s heart sank. He’d left the lab securely locked up. This could only mean someone working with the assailant—or the assailant himself—had also searched the lab. They were looking for something. Obviously, for whatever reason, they thought he was further along in his research than he actually was.
But why?
He itched to know what they’d done to his lab. But since he couldn’t tell without touching things and thus contaminating the evidence, he stayed in the hall, waiting.
A moment later Thomas returned. “They have wrecked the place,” he said brusquely. “Do you have any idea what they were after?”
“No idea,” Braden said, telling the truth. “How bad is it?”
“Very bad.” The other man sounded grimly certain. “The king will have to be notified of this.”
“Good.” Though doing so wouldn’t change things. One thing would—catching the crooks. “Do you have security cameras in the hall?” Braden asked, hoping against hope that they did, just as he hoped they were who they claimed to be. As his sense of wrongness increased, he was beginning to wonder.
“We do.” Voice slightly surprised, Thomas called to his coworker in the native tongue before turning back to Braden. “Igor knows where we can view the footage. We’ll review the tapes and get back to you.”
“I want to know.” He was frustrated that he couldn’t see anything, not the damage that had been done to his lab or the face of the intruders on the surveillance tape.
Clenching his hand into a fist, he silently counted to three. Punching the wall would do more harm than good and would accomplish absolutely nothing.
Again, he thought about Alisa. Was she truly safe? Though he had nothing concrete, something had been off. Braden needed to make sure she was all right and, once he knew that, he wanted to discuss this with her, get her thoughts, see if she had any idea who could have done this and why. This had all the makings of an inside job. Someone or multiple people in the palace were members of the group that didn’t want Braden’s research to be successful. Ruben was right. Both he and Alisa were in danger.
“What time is it?” he asked abruptly, picturing the other man checking his watch.
“A little after three.”
He made a sudden decision. “I’d like to go back to my room. I’ve got a busy day scheduled tomorrow and I need to get some sleep. I’ll deal with all this in the morning.”
No doubt eager to be rid of him, they dutifully escorted him back to his room.
After they left, he waited a good ten minutes to be certain they were truly gone. Then he grabbed his cane and slipped out his door.
He’d check on Alisa himself.
As soon as he got out in the hallway, Braden turned right and retraced his steps, counting all the way. When he encountered Rok the securi
ty guard stationed outside Alisa’s door, he planned to tell the man that the princess herself had called him and summoned him to her room.
Even if Rok didn’t believe the story, he’d still have to check with Alisa. Either way, it seemed a foolproof plan.
Except Braden didn’t encounter Rok. Either the man had left his post to take a bathroom break or had gone to bed for the night.
Which made absolutely no sense. He was supposed to be guarding the princess.
Heartbeat accelerating, Braden took a deep breath outside of Alisa’s room.
Then, putting his hand out blindly, he tried the knob. It turned easily in his hand. Slipping inside, he closed the door behind him. Moving carefully, he went forward, hoping he didn’t crash into anything.
A garbled sound made him freeze mid-step. Alisa? On the verge of calling her name, something made him hesitate. Then he smelled it—the same human smoker smell that had caused him to come awake in his own room.
The intruder. The same intruder was here.
Lifting his head, he inhaled again, pinpointing the intruder’s location.
Then, trusting in blind luck a second time, he launched himself forward, miraculously connecting with a body. A masculine one, the same man he’d subdued before.
He swung wildly, hitting hard, the stench of cigarette smoke and unwashed body growing stronger. Yep, same guy.
The other man landed a good punch to Braden’s chest, sending him staggering back. Braden swung again and missed. Fighting blind gave him a distinct disadvantage, but his larger size helped.
As he pulled back to try once more, the intruder sucker-punched him. First, hard in the stomach and then, while Braden was doubled over, gasping for air, he got in a quick uppercut to the jaw.
Braden went down like a shot. Kicking him as he ran past, the intruder took off, slamming the door closed behind him.
Struggling to pull in air, Braden managed to get to his feet, all the while mentally cursing his ineptitude. Another muffled sound—a groan or a cry—from behind him had him turning, heart pounding. His princess.
“Alisa,” he said again, moving slowly forward, hands outstretched, praying to a higher power when he’d never prayed before. She had to be all right, she had to be. Anything else was simply unimaginable, unacceptable, unforgivable.
There. He found her. Alisa. Still alive. But how badly was she hurt? She squirmed against him, making muffled sounds, as though trying to speak past a gag. Keeping his touch gentle, he let his fingers roam over her, exploring. No blood, and he noted that she was still clothed, although the skimpy shorts and tank top must have been what she wore to sleep in.
Softly, hating that he had to fumble, he located and removed the gag, which seemed to be some sort of cloth placed in her mouth and tied behind her head.
The instant he got it out, she took a deep, shuddering breath. “Thank goodness,” she said, her voice shaky. “I felt like I was going to suffocate trying to breathe through my nose.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.” She sounded furious. “Now please, untie me.”
She helped him as he removed the restraints around her ankles and wrists. As they struggled to free her, her unrestrained breasts brushed against his arm and then his chest, igniting a different kind of trouble inside him.
Though he tried to hide the hitch in his breath, she went from struggling to absolutely still.
“Braden?”
Mouth dry, he answered. “I’m right here.”
“I need you to hold me,” she said, the slightest quaver in her silky voice. “I really, really need you to hold me tight.”
The urgency in her tone swept aside his misgivings. Though he dimly realized she probably wanted only reassurance, desire flared again, dangerously close to raging out of control. He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. All he could do was blindly try to offer her comfort without frightening her with the force of his arousal.
He could do this, he thought, gritting his teeth. He could. And would.
Tilting his body at an angle, he reached out to pull her gently into his arms. Instead, she stunned him by meeting him halfway, yanking him down on top of her so that part of him straddled her, the very part he’d been trying to keep her from feeling.
Now, she felt it all right. She most definitely felt it. And pressed up against her lush, feminine curves, he swelled, feeling her as well.
Stimulated by touch, fueled by adrenaline, desire roared to life, his feeding off hers and vice versa. Hellhounds, he wanted her, needed her, craved her. And, judging by the fervor with which she kissed him, she wanted him just as badly.
“Touch me,” she gasped, arching her back. So he did.
Now, more than ever, his fingers were his eyes. He let them have free reign, exploring her, experiencing her and arousing her. Somehow, he helped her shed her clothes, and as she tugged his shirt from his trousers, then loosened the button and unzipped him to free his huge arousal, he realized if he didn’t put a stop to this, they were going to make hot, passionate love.
And she was a royal princess of Teslinko, his host’s daughter. Plus, they had no way of knowing whether the attackers would return.
Gathering up the shreds of his self-control, he pushed himself back from her. Breathing in great, gasping gulps of air, he tried to think. Somehow, he must make an attempt to get back to normalcy.
“Your adrenaline rush is making you do this,” he managed. “It’s a common enough occurrence. You were attacked and now you want to reaffirm life. First, we need to contact—” he began, but she pulled him back down to her and silenced him with a deep, sensual kiss. His body pulsed again as helplessly he pushed himself mindlessly against her.
Still, he could still stop, should stop, and with that in mind, he tried again to regain control. As long as she didn’t touch him…
Then, as though she’d heard his unvoiced thought, she reached inside his pants and wrapped her small hand around him. That did it. He completely lost the capacity for rational thought. Hell, he could barely breathe. She moved her hand and he surged into her touch.
Just like that, he surrendered.
All he knew was her. All he craved was her.
Damn. Buried deep inside her. That’s where he wanted to be. The thought that they might be interrupted only poured fuel on the fire.
“Stop,” he gritted, staying the movement of her hand by gripping her wrist. “It’s been too long and I don’t know if I can hold back.”
“I don’t want you to hold back.” The smoky desire in her voice made him shudder. A second later, she grabbed his arms and straddled him, her moist sheath slipping over him as though they were made for each other.
Then, just when he thought he’d actually proven the existence of heaven, she began to move. Moist heat, searing him. Delicious, enticing, and his. All his.
His wolf surged to life inside him, and he growled, grinning savagely as she returned the sound in kind. Even their wolves joined in this, this mating.
Mating? What the…? He raised his head, trying to think. Then she kissed him again, clenching herself around him. Waves of ecstasy shook him with each pulse of her body. Raising to meet her, thrusting from below as pleasure shattered his thoughts and he forgot to be concerned.
She rode him with a fierce intensity, dancing on the edge of control. If she kept this up, he’d explode inside her now, too soon. And this, he couldn’t allow. With a swift movement, he lifted them both, flipping her onto her back.
Claiming her with his gaze, he savored the raw act of possession as he pushed into her deeply, filling her, and held himself there while she quivered around him, before he slowly withdrew. She moaned, begging him to go faster with incoherent sounds and her hot, demanding body, but he knew he had to slow things down or this would be over before either of them wished it to be.
Slowly he pushed back inside her and withdrew again, letting the exquisite sensuality of the movement make an entirely different rhythm as passion arced bet
ween them.
“Shhh,” he whispered against her lips, thrilling to the heat radiating from her body. “Let’s enjoy each other first. There’ll be time enough for the crazy mad rush to fulfillment later.”
“Even now you sound like a scientist,” she grumbled. “But I want you hard and fast and furious.”
She began to move to match her words, still under him, clenching him with her body and releasing him, pushing him to drive into her harder and faster, making him completely lose control.
A second later, she shuddered around him, a rush of honey bathing him as she cried out. Her release pushed him over the edge, sending him hurtling down a dark precipice until he shattered into a thousand pieces, exploding inside her.
In all of his thirty-eight years, he’d never made love like this. Ever.
A knot filled his throat. He held her while his hammering heartbeat slowed, smoothed the hair back from her face gently and reverently, unable to believe what had just happened. She curled into him with a sigh, her breath fanning his cheek. “That was…”
He silenced her with a soft kiss. “I hope you don’t regret this in the morning.”
“Do you?” She sounded fragile, vulnerable. Exactly how he’d feared she might be. “Why would I?”
“Because you were attacked and tied up. Adrenaline fuels desire. It’s only normal that you would want to make love to show yourself that you were alive.”
“You said that before. And you really believe this is why I…we…?”
He shrugged, ignoring the ache in his throat. “It’s a scientific fact.”
“I see. Do you?” she asked, sounding a little stronger now. “Regret this, that is?”
He could only be honest. “I know I should, but no. I don’t regret anything.” Though that would certainly change, if her brother or her father found out.
“Excellent.” Burrowing her face in the hollow of his throat, she kissed him.
“Alisa?” He pushed himself up on his elbows. “We need to talk about what just happened.”
She sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”
“And we need to let your father know.”
“I know.” She didn’t sound happy. “He’s going to freak.”
The Wolf Princess: The Wolf PrincessOne Eye Open (The Pack) Page 14
