by Renee Rose
“Bring me the duct tape from the trunk of the Range Rover,” I order Trey in an undertone. He raises his brows like he thinks I’m nuts, but obeys.
When he returns, I take Amber’s hand, leading her toward a bedroom.
Once inside, she turns. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I blow out a breath. I can’t forget she betrayed us, no matter how much my wolf wants her. “Listen, baby. I need to go shift and sniff the beach. I’m really sorry about this.” I spin her around and pin her wrists behind her back.
“What in the hell—stop it!” she shrieks, real panic entering her voice.
“Easy, easy,” I murmur in her ear. While this is a necessity, I’m going for seductive rather than abusive. I’m hard as a rock, and I remember how much she liked being restrained last night. If I can keep it sexy, I just might pull this off without her hating me for the rest of our lives.
I work quickly, wrapping the duct tape around her wrists and picking her up by the waist. “You’re safe with me, Counselor. Nothing terrible is going to happen. It’s just that after that little escape stunt you pulled at the border, I don’t feel comfortable leaving you here alone while I go check out the beach.”
Amber’s resistance slackens. I sense her confusion.
I nip the shell of her ear. “Be a good girl, and I promise I’ll reward you when I get back, baby. I’ll even keep you tied up.”
“You sadistic—”
I cut her tirade off with a hard kiss.
When I break it, she looks at me dazedly, lips parted. Gritting my teeth to keep from prying those legs apart to reward her immediately, I restrain her, plunking her in a high-backed chair and pinning her there while I rip off tape. Little angry grunts escape her.
Sexy little grunts.
“You growling at me, princess?”
“Don’t call me that!”
“You’re so fucking cute when you’re mad.” I secure her wrists and tie her to the chair.
“Let me go, Garrett. This isn’t funny.”
I drop to my knees at her feet and pry her legs apart. She’s wearing the yoga pants from this morning, and her arousal has leaked through. I press my face into the apex of her thighs, open my mouth, and nip at her sex through the thin fabric.
She thrusts her pussy toward my mouth, making the cutest sound of dissatisfaction. “We both know you like being restrained, Counselor.” I stroke my thumb slowly over her slit. “I’ll make it up to you when I get back. You have my word.”
She looks so beautiful, eyes dilated, hair mussed, full lips parted. My wolf surges to the surface, and my vision domes. Fuck. I guess I still want to mark her. Desperately.
Time to leave.
I rip off another piece of tape and clamp it down on her mouth. “Sorry, sweetheart. But this is the only way I feel comfortable leaving you. Trey will be right in the living room if you need anything. I’ll be back soon. No more than a couple hours.”
“Rmphel mphs!” she repeats in a muffled scream.
“Be good.” I stroke her hair, watching her tits jiggle as she keeps squirming. “Are you hungry? Do you need anything before I go?”
Her brows slam together. “Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.” She kicks at me, eyes narrowed.
“No? Okay, baby. Bathroom? I guess I should’ve asked that before I taped you up. No? All right. I’ll be back before you know it.”
I tug her head to the side and nip her neck. “Please don’t wear yourself out fighting with that tape.”
Another furious scream, and I can’t stop myself leaning down to kiss her lips through the tape. She tries to head butt me.
Chuckling, I rear back and look her up and down. Her chest heaves, and there are pink spots on her cheeks. Fucking gorgeous. “This is a good look for you,” I drawl, just to see the anger and frustration spark again in her eyes.
She stills, and glares at me. “Uck. Oo.” She enunciates each word clearly, as best she can behind the tape.
“There’s my good bad girl.”
~.~
Amber
Let the record reflect: I’m going to buy the biggest nutcracker in existence. I’ll see how Garrett McJerkwolf likes getting tied up when he has a silver ballbuster clamped to his nards.
First I have to get out of here.
I wrench at the tape for the thousandth time, but it won’t budge.
The front door bangs open. I sit up straighter, ready to go another round with a werewolf. But when Garrett walks in, his head down, shoulders slumped, worry lines creasing his forehead, all the fight drains out of me. I don’t need a vision to show me he found nothing.
He’s shirtless. His sculpted pecs, lightly dusted with brown curls, stand out in relief above the eight-pack abs and narrow waist. The moment he sees me, the bar of his enormous cock presses against the front his jeans. I noticed it when he tied me up, too. The fact it made me crazy horny only pisses me off even more.
I make a questioning sound, eyebrows raised.
“Nothing.” He shakes his head. “There’s no sign of her. All three of us shifted, but I couldn’t catch her scent. The ocean probably washed it away.”
I make another comforting noise. He looks so dejected.
He pulls the tape from my mouth, and the sting helps me remember my rage.
“Ow,” I snap.
“Sorry.” He breaks the tape from my chest and wrists with his bare hands, ripping it from me like it’s tissue paper.
“I have some things to tell you, buddy.”
“I’m sure you do, Counselor.” Looking tired, but amused, he folds his arms across his chest, mirroring me. For some reason, this sends my temper into the red zone.
“That’s funny. You acting like you respect me. Because last time I checked, when you respect a woman, you don’t kidnap her and drive her across the border to Mexico.” I channel Lawyer Amber as hard as I can to keep from screaming like a crazy person. “You do realize this is the worst second date in the history of dating. And that’s saying something because the first one was epically, epically bad. And—why are you grinning at me like that?”
“My wolf thinks you’re adorable when you’re mad. But be careful, little lawyer. I’m real riled up right now. And I know just what would make me feel better.”
“What?”
“Tossing you over my shoulder, carrying you to the bed, and fucking you six ways to Sunday,”
“It is almost Sunday.” My voice sounds strangled. My lady bits are cheering.
“Nope.” Garrett’s grin is feral. “Not this Sunday. Next. It’ll take about a week.” He leans forward. “How’s that end to our second date?”
“This isn’t a date.”
“I know. You’re the one who called it that. You like spending time with me, Counselor?”
“What? No, I—” My cheeks flood. Damn my libido for picking this moment to go into overdrive.
Garrett steps close enough for me to feel his chuckle in my panties. “I promise our third date will be epically better.”
“Look.” I hold up a hand, trying to put space between us. It lands on his rock-hard chest, which doesn’t help my focus at all. “Your sister is missing. We need to find her.”
My reminder sucks the energy out of the room. Damn. So much for my reward. I should have let him keep me tied up a little longer.
“Yeah,” Garrett sighs, and slumps. He looks about a thousand years old. “You saw her surrounded by men, so she didn’t drown. Or get lost. She’s been gone for twelve hours now. No human could have taken her—she’d rip their throat out. So it has to be other shifters.”
“All right. You brought me here to help. How can I help?”
He stabs his fingers through his tousled blond hair. “Really?”
I nod. I hate being Crazy Amber, I’m afraid of becoming her, but I’ve never been the type of person to walk away from someone in need. If he thinks I can help, I have to help. Even if he did technically kidnap me and bind me with duct tape.
“Here’s
the thing. We’re at the point I should call in my dad. But, if he comes down here, he’s going to bring a hundred armed wolves and tear this town apart before asking questions. If you could get any more information before I call him down, it might keep wolves—particularly Sedona—from getting hurt.”
“But I don’t know how to use the visions. They just come.”
He picks up my hand and rubs his thumb over the back of it. “Just try?”
“Okay,” I whisper.
Crap. I am so not ready to embrace this side of myself. Especially around these people—wolves—I hardly know.
Except Garrett doesn’t seem like a stranger. Not at all. And he doesn’t make me feel crazy, either. Maybe I can do this.
I can at least try.
~.~
Garrett
“So, who do you think took Sedona?” Jared asks as we sit around the table eating the fish tacos he and Trey bought. It’s late, but no one can sleep. “Did you see what they looked like in your, um, vision or whatever?”
Amber shakes her head. She leans against the kitchen counter, eating standing up. Still putting distance between us. It’s a good idea, but I want to pull her into my lap and feed her with my fingers.
“Were they wolves?” Trey cranks his neck around to look at her.
Her brow wrinkles. “No, they were men—oh.” She pauses. “Well, how would I know? Is there a telltale sign or something?”
“Their eyes. Did they change color, or glow?”
Frowning, she shakes her head. “I don’t remember.”
“Can you have the vision again?”
“It’s not like a movie I rent. They just come to me.”
“You don’t control them at all?”
I frown at Trey to shut him up.
“No,” she snaps. “That’s not the way they work.”
“Well, that sucks,” Trey mumbles.
I growl, and he adjusts his expression to something friendlier.
“Look, I’m trying.” Amber sets down her food and turns to the sink. She spends about a minute washing her hands, then grabs a paper towel and starts wiping down the counters.
“Hey.” I push out of my chair, and amble over to her. I don’t mean to crowd her, but she drops the paper towel and backs up anyway. “We’re all just trying to figure this psychic thing out.”
She flinches at the word psychic. “You don’t understand. I’ve spent my entire life suppressing these visions.”
“Is that why you get headaches?”
Her shoulders lift and fall.
“Have you ever tried just letting them happen?”
“I can’t.”
I tilt my head to the side.
“I’ve never tried,” she amends. “I’m afraid they’ll take over my life.”
“Okay. May I try something?”
“Like what?” She watches me warily. She used to trust me, against her better judgment. But I broke it. This distance between us? It’s my fault.
“I’m going to touch you,” I murmur.
Behind me, Jared clears his throat.
“Please,” I add.
A small hesitation, and she nods.
“Just breathe. Relax.”
I place a hand over her eyes. “Close your eyes.” Her lashes flutter against my palm. “Just feel into it. Humans or wolves?”
She stays quiet for so long, I give up on an answer. The heat of her body, so close to mine, makes my cock thicken. I breathe in her scent, knowing I should back away, keep my hands off her if I want to maintain control.
“Wolves,” she says at last.
I force myself to step back. “I knew it.”
“What do you think they want with her?” Jared asks. He and Trey come to their feet.
I run my fingers through my hair. “Probably breeding.”
Amber looks shocked, so I explain. “Many shifters consider our species endangered. Our DNA has been diluted too much with human genes. It’s considered a sin against our kind to mate with a human. But that means in smaller communities in-breeding is now the problem.”
“What happens when they mate with a human?” Amber asks.
“These days, they produce human babies.” I meet her intelligent gaze. Is she thinking about what might happen if we continue on the path we’re on, this doomed dance of attraction? “Offspring who never get sick and heal quickly, but human, not wolf.”
“They can’t shift?”
“Right. I mean, there are half-breeds who shift—it’s not unheard of. There’s a panther in Tucson who didn’t shift until she got pregnant with a wolf shifter’s pup. But it’s rare.”
“So you think they spot a female wolf who hasn’t been part of their pack, and just grab her for breeding?” Amber’s voice sharpens, and I get a hint of what she must be like on crusade.
I bet she’s fucking amazing in the courtroom. I get hard just picturing her in one of her fitted suits, pacing the room in high heels, dazzling every male in the building with those shapely calves, that sharp mind.
“I think it’s possible, yeah. She’s an alpha female, and young enough to bear lots of pups.”
Amber swallows, looking a little sick. “We have to get her back.”
“Yeah.” My stomach clenches. “Soon. Before they start…” I can’t finish the sentence. My fists tighten, itching to punch someone. My wolf wants to rampage. I want to break everything I see. If Amber weren’t here, I probably already would have.
“So what do we do?” she asks, chin up like she’s ready to do anything. She’s not going to like what we have to do.
“We have no leads, Amber. No scent at all. We got nothing but your vision. Let’s play twenty questions with you and see what you can intuit.”
Her shoulders slump. Doubt oozes from her stance. I step so my body blocks my two packmates watching her, and cup her chin. “You can do this, Amber. Your gifts are meant to be used.”
“What if I’m wrong? Or I can’t see anything?”
“It will still be more information than we have now.”
“You’re crazy,” she mutters, but she walks to the couch and sits down, tucking her legs up under her body and closing her eyes. “Go ahead.”
Trey has his laptop open. “It says here that psychics can be clairsentient, clairvoyant, clairaudient or claircognizant. Which do you think you are, Amber?”
“Clairvoyant. I see things--I don’t usually hear. Maybe clairsentient--sometimes I feel things like emotion. Especially his.” She shifts her gaze to me.
“G, do you have something of Sedona’s?” Trey asks. “It says that police psychics hold an object that belonged to a victim or missing person to kick start the intuition.”
I go to the room Sedona stayed in and grab one of her tank tops from her suitcase. I hand it to Amber. “This belongs to Sedona.”
“Can’t hurt to try, I guess,” Amber mumbles, taking the shirt and holding it in both hands. She closes her eyes.
“Where is Sedona now?”
Amber sits perfectly still while three pairs of eyes stare at her in silence. Minutes tick by. She exhales in a whoosh as if she’s been holding it. “I don’t know,” she says at last.
“Is she in San Carlos still?”
Another long pause and then a shake of her head. “Sorry.”
“Can you get a name of one of the men who took her?”
Agitation radiates from my little human, but she squeezes her eyes shut again. “La...Luh...Lobo?” Her eyes snap open. “Oh, that’s stupid. That’s just wolf in Spanish.”
“No, you may be onto something. It could be the last name of a family of wolves.”
“Your father might have contacts with some of the packs down here,” Jared says in a low voice.
I blow out a breath. I was hoping to find my sister fast, without involving my dad. “First, let’s do some digging. We need a lead.” I know my dad. He’ll drive down with every warrior wolf in his pack, maybe even from packs who owe him favors. It’ll be war. My gut
tells me Sedona will pay the price.
We’ve gotta get more information. “Trey? Will you see if Kylie can help with research?”
One of the shifters in Tucson—the panther who mated a wolf—is a tech genius. She can hack any system in the world for information.
“I’m on it,” Trey says.
“Is she in a house right now? Outside? Is she in wolf form or human?” Jared asks.
Amber’s face pinches, and she shakes her head. “I’m sorry, you guys. I just don’t know.” She looks pale and exhausted. My wolf whines, hating her distress.
“Okay,” I say. “Amber, why don’t you get some rest? It’s been a long day. We’ll try again in the morning.”
“No, that’s okay, I can keep going. Ask another one.”
“Amber.” I start to put an alpha-push to my voice. Jared catches my eye, and I back down. “All right. One more.”
“What step should we take next to find her?” Jared asks.
“Hmm, interesting question.” Amber closes her eyes again as Trey walks outside to call Kylie. I motion for Jared to follow him.
I sit back down and wait in silence, the sound of the waves crashing on the beach outside making a lullaby to ease the tension in the room. Amber gives a soft sigh. She’s fallen asleep.
As tight as my gut is right now, as much as I want to find Sedona, I can’t bear to wake Amber. I lift her carefully. Her eyelids flutter, but she doesn’t open them. Her lips move, but I don’t catch what she’s saying.
“What’s that?”
She furrows her brow and shakes her head. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do. You know,” I assure her, carrying her into the bedroom. How can she have gone this long without anyone telling her how powerful and special her talent really is? A gift, not the curse she believes it to be.
I pull back the covers and lay her on the bed. My little spitfire looks so fragile asleep, the line between her brows creased with worry. My wolf is calmer now, and I can’t resist brushing a kiss on that little line. If she were my mate, I’d do everything I could to make sure she never had cause to worry again.
