by Olivia Arran
“I said I was sorry for squashing you. It won’t happen next time—”
“Next time?”
“Yeah, next time you’ll be writhing underneath me, coming with my name on your lips…”
“You’re delusional!”
“Maybe. I’m in quite a lot of pain. But never say never.”
“Never.”
“Coward.”
“What did you call me? I’m your Alpha—”
“And I’m your mate. Evens.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You can’t have it both ways. I’ve noticed that about you, always want things your way. Now, in bed, I could maybe be convinced…” He stumbled on the steps, lurching to the side.
“You need to shift and heal.”
“Not with this damn bullet inside of me. It needs to come out.” He gritted his teeth and stomped up the steps onto the porch, shoving open the door with his good shoulder.
“And then you’ll shift?”
“Yes ma’am,” he drawled, and I felt like I had missed something. Something important.
I readjusted his arms around my shoulders, asking, “The office or upstairs?”
Tarq winced, looking at the stairs longingly, then he sighed. “The office.”
Thank the Mother! Turning, we made it through the living area. Seb made a move to come over, and I waved him away. He was not what Tarq needed right now. Groups of people huddled in corners, their faces twisted with worry and concern, but they didn’t approach, just watched with wide eyes as we made our way into the large office. I slammed the door shut behind me. I couldn’t focus on them right now. Later, I promised myself.
Shoving the couch over, I made space for Tarq on the floor and he collapsed in a heap.
“Dig it out,” he commanded through gritted teeth, then looked away.
CHAPTER FIVE
Amanda
I dropped the bullet into a small bowl I had found, wiping the blood off my hands with what remained of Tarq’s t-shirt. He had stayed quiet throughout, only flinching once, and that had been when I’d had to dig down to his bone to retrieve the bullet.
Now, he was sitting up, already starting to look loads better, his skin returning to a healthy glow, his tan not looking as fake as it had against his previous pallor. Using the other half of his t-shirt, he swiped at the wound, huffing with satisfaction as he flexed his fingers, testing the affected arm.
“I’ve been hit by a bullet before and I don’t remember it hurting like that!” He prodded the bowl cautiously, metal clinking against metal. “Must be getting old.”
“You have? Been shot before, I mean?”
Tarq twisted around, showing me his back. “Here,” he said, pointing at the top of his shoulder blade, then he twisted back around. “Here,” he added, indicating the side of his stomach. He reached for the top button of his jeans. “And her—”
“Stop! I believe you,” I blurted out, before he got the chance to pop all of the buttons. Though I was in two minds whether to stop him.
While removing the bullet, all my concentration had been on the wound and getting the little sucker out. Once he was bullet-free, I hadn’t been able to control my eyes, and they had roamed all over his chest, drinking in the sight of the tightly packed muscle stretched over his chest, the broad arch of his shoulders, and the rippled effect of his abs as they bunched and flexed with every movement. My wolf was pawing inside of me, wanting to reach out and touch.
I desperately seized on something that had been bothering me ever since he had shown me his back.
“What is that across your shoulders?”
“It’s nothing.”
“It must mean something. Fancy writing like that, it looks like a piece of art…” I shuffled around him, lightly tracing the intricate calligraphy with a finger.
Tarq froze under my touch, his chest ceasing to rise and fall.
My finger froze on a downward stroke.
“It’s just some Latin. A phrase, or something.”
I continued outlining the letters, watching how they shifted and twitched with every small movement he made. “You must know what it means, or you wouldn’t have got it.”
“Maybe one day I’ll tell you,” he said abruptly, jumping to his feet. I think I’d better shift now, fast track the healing. I need to be in top form for when he tries again.”
“You think he will?” The thought distracted me, and it was only when I heard the sound of denim sliding against skin that I realized what had just happened.
Tarq was naked. And standing right in front of me.
***
Amanda
I didn’t know where to look. I’d seen Tarq naked before, like I’d seen most of the pack stripped down, ready to shift. But this time felt different. Whether it was the intimacy of the room, or the fact that I knew Tarq believed us to be mates…I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that I couldn’t tear my gaze away from his toned physique, my eyes traveling down his chest, past his rippling six pack, and coming to a shuddering halt at his groin.
“Like what you see, babe?” Outwardly, he sounded amused, but the hoarseness in his voice betrayed him.
I gulped, then closed my eyes, seeing as they were refusing to obey my command and look away. But it was as if the image had burned into me, the long length of him, thick and promising.
“I don’t see anything,” I tried to snap, but it came out a croaking whisper.
My body was betraying me, reacting to him on the most primal level, my breasts tightening, my pussy throbbing with need. Maybe it was because it had been so long since I’d been with a man. I wracked my brain, trying to remember the last time. Nobody knew that James and I hadn’t slept together, he’d claimed old fashioned values, insisting on courting until mating. I think, deep down, he had known it wasn’t right between us. Before James…I drew a blank. Which might explain things.
Not for the first time, I wished that Tarq wasn’t so insistent on making this between us into something big, something important. That he’d ruined any possibility of a fling.
No matter what he said, or tried to prove, it was just physical attraction between us. It had to be. Nothing else. My hand crept up and fingered the smooth metal of the locket that hung heavy between my breasts.
I focused on picturing the photo trapped inside, one old and faded with time. This time, the image wavered, blurry and indistinct, but it was still enough to stop me.
Lent me the strength to stop my traitorous body from throwing itself at the man in front of me.
***
Tarq
She crouched on the floor in front of me, her eyes squeezed tight, a frown wrinkling her brow and puckering her lips.
I hadn’t been thinking when I’d stripped. After all, it was natural to be naked around other shifters. All right, maybe I’d been a little aware of what I was doing, I admitted to myself. But the way she had looked at me had been worth it. Like she wanted to eat me alive, something I would give anything for to actually happen.
Now, she was lost in thought, her fingers playing with what looked to be an old locket nestled between her breasts.
Man, what I would give to be that locket! I mentally slapped myself, trying to figure out my next move. She wanted me, but she wouldn’t admit it. I could make her lose control, but that wouldn’t be fair. So, all that left was trying to figure out her reluctance and seeing if I could reason with her.
Which left me with…nothing.
Sighing, I let the shift come, my bones cracking and realigning, fur sprouting. My wolf still thought he was a pup, young at heart, I liked to say. Large and rambunctious, he liked to play, especially with the one he’d decided we should have claimed already.
Maybe he could break through Amanda’s shell? I decided to give him free reign, retreating back a little to watch through his eyes.
Shaking out my fur, I stretched out the last of the shift, wagging my tail. My mate still had her eyes shut, her fingers still stroking the locke
t in a way that implied that she drew comfort from it.
Tilting my head, I eyed the object carefully. Hanging on a long chain, it had hidden beneath her clothes until she’d pulled it out. I made a mental note to investigate further once back in human form, then gave control back to my wolf.
With a delighted yip, I bounded toward the woman and licked my tongue up the side of her face, nearly knocking her over in the process. Her eyes flew open in surprise, and I danced around her, circling and rubbing against her, my tongue lolling out of my mouth in a wide doggy grin.
Her hands flew out, grabbing the scruff of my neck and halting my playful antics. I nudged her with my large head, wet nose snuffling into her throat, drinking in her scent.
“What are you playing at?” she said, laughing, as I nudged her again, then licked her jaw. Digging her fingers into my neck, she pulled us away, pulling an expression of mock disgust. “Ewww, doggy breath!” But she was still laughing, the sadness I had glimpsed earlier gone.
Deciding my work was done, I curled up on the floor next to her, my head resting on her lap.
“Pushing it a bit, aren’t you, you big oaf,” she murmured, but she didn’t push me off, her fingers tickling at my ears, smoothing across my head as she petted me.
Wolves were pack creatures for a reason. We loved contact, human or wolf, and the feel of her hands on me soothed that part of my soul. I could only hope it was soothing hers.
“Are you going to shift back?”
I ignored her, instead leaning into her firm fingers, which were digging into a particularly nice spot behind my ears.
She chuckled softly, sounding much more carefree than I had ever heard her. “Hmmm, I’ll take that as a no. I take it your shoulder is feeling better?” It wasn’t really a question, but I huffed in reply.
“Your wolf, he’s the playful type, isn’t he? Is that why you are so…easy going? Because you share your soul with him?”
She was right. It was hard to be as dominant at James, as moody as Sean, as aloof as Oliver, when you shared your soul with a pup that refused to grow up, but I liked it. Rather than fighting my animal all the time like some of the others, we got on great. He was also fun, preferring to joke around than mope and whine. An optimist, something that rubbed off on me. He was still adjusting to having found his mate, though, and I could tell he was considering the fact that he might just have to grow up—not sure if he liked the idea or not.
It’s time, friend. You had to grow up sometime, I whispered inside his head, and he chuffed into Amanda’s lap. His way of telling me that he would think about it.
Leaving her to interpret my wolf’s reaction in any way she wanted, I closed my eyes, determined to enjoy having my mate’s attention for once.
“Do you think Sean will find his dad?”
Amanda’s words drifted to me, jerking me from the sleep I had been drifting toward. Sean’s dad, Bert, was a first class jerk. Having beaten his child within an inch of his life, just to make him a real man, he now appeared to have a vendetta against the Colstone Pack, and James in particular. Having teamed up with the Sunclaw Coyote Pack, we weren’t sure quite what his involvement was, or how it tied to Eric and Smithrock. But it did, and we would find out.
“Things have been a little too quiet around here. It’s like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop or something. The pack is restless, which is understandable, given what happened, and the new leadership, but there’s something else. Something I can’t quite put my finger on.”
I knew what she meant. The fire, then the shooting, had confirmed what I had already been thinking. Eric’s lieutenants were still working behind the scenes. Specifically, Gary, Eric’s Beta and second in charge. Whether they were still working with the coyotes? That, I wasn’t sure of.
The need to speak overwhelming my need for comfort, I lurched to my feet, shaking off the lethargy that had infused my legs.
Padding across the room, I pawed at the office door, waiting impatiently for Amanda to open it for me. I needed a shower and some clothes. My pursuit of my mate would have to wait. First, I had to make sure she was safe, and that meant eliminating all threats.
Which meant being serious. And for once, my wolf was in agreement with me. Maybe he was finally growing up.
CHAPTER SIX
Amanda
After Tarq had bolted upstairs in a mad flurry of paws and fur, I busied myself tidying away the blood-stained knife and rags. Picking up the knife, my heart clenched in an echo of fear—a useless emotion, especially since he was fine—but I couldn’t stop the macabre images that snuck their way into my head. Of Tarq lying there, his skin cold, his chest not moving—what could have happened. My fingers tightened on the handle, rage flooding me.
Now that was an emotion I could work with! No one was going to threaten my pack, and if they thought getting rid of me was going to be easy…?
The office door burst back open, and Tarq strode back into the room, fully dressed, his hair dripping with water. His jaw was tense as he surveyed the room, his eyes flicking around and finally coming to settle on the desk.
In a smooth motion, he clamped his hands on either side of the mammoth oak monstrosity and lifted it clear off the floor. With his legs braced, he shuffled over a couple of feet, turning the desk so that it was parallel to the wall.
I watched in wonder, my mouth hanging open, as he let the legs connect with the floor, the only sound a soft thump. What was he playing at?
He stood back, surveying the desk, then turned back to get the chair, which he deposited neatly behind the desk in its new place.
“The window,” he said, by way of explanation, dusting his hands off on his low slung jeans. “You were in line of sight.”
Ah! That made sense.
“Sit down, Amanda. We need to talk.” His voice was brusque, almost hard, and I wondered what had brought about this change. What it meant?
I almost didn’t do as he asked, my metaphorical fur bristling at the almost-order, but then I relented, chiding myself for imagining a challenge—he was my Beta. Sliding into the chair, I leaned back, the supple leather cupping my small frame, and waited for him to begin.
Dragging a chair right up to the other side of the desk, Tarq flipped it around and sat, his arms resting across the top of the delicate frame. “We need to stop thinking of this as a singular problem and start looking at the whole picture,” he began, then he frowned, regret flashing in his eyes. “I should have been doing this already, as your Beta, so, I’m sorry. I was distracted.”
“As Alpha, it’s my job to—”
“You need to be focused on the pack. They are your highest priority at the moment. Nothing else.”
“I see.” And I did. He was taking a step back. Giving up the chase—for the time being, anyway. I should have felt relieved, but instead, a strange feeling of loss tugged at me.
“Sean’s dad is still out there. Gary, too. Plus others we probably don’t know about. They’re aiming at the Colstone Pack, but they have an interest in Smithrock, one they won’t want to give up. Putting you here might have been a mistake.”
“I am—”
“It’s not about you, as an Alpha. It’s about who you are. You are James’ ex-girlfriend. A member of Colstone. And, yes, a woman.”
“As I was trying to say, I can meet any challenge—”
“But they didn’t try and challenge you this time, did they? No, they tried to take you out with a bullet.” Tarq’s voice was blunt, void of emotion, but I could see it simmering in his eyes. “I will not let anything happen to you,” he growled, his irises flashing silver.
So, maybe he hadn’t completely backed off… A traitorous part of me celebrated with joy. “Well, I’m not leaving. Not now. We’ve made progress here and I’m not going to turn my back on them.”
“Spoken like a true Alpha.”
“What does James say? I take it you’ve reported in?” I was guessing, but the sheepish look on his face confirmed it for m
e. “You have?”
“Not reporting in, so much as gathering intel. They still haven’t found Bert or Gary, though Macey and Cole have a lead on Jason, the coyote shifter they were sent to look for.”
I nodded, absorbing the information. “Still, the fact that I’m a woman doesn’t come into the equation.”
“It shouldn’t, but it does when you’re going up against shifters like them. Who like to use and degrade women for sport. I know what they’re like, what they’re capable of. If they got to you—”
I had never seen him so angry, and at the same time, I sensed real fear underneath it all. “They won’t. I won’t let them—”
“You’re damn right they won’t. I’m not letting them get within a hundred feet of you,” Tarq growled.
“Then we need a plan. I take it you have an idea?” Because he looked like he did. The man was so tense, he looked like he was going to burst out of his skin, his muscles rippling with every movement, his fists clenched on top of the chair. Gone was the softer side I had seen earlier, replaced with someone I had never seen before, and wasn’t sure anyone else had either. Something had changed in him. He was different.
“I have. But I don’t like it much.” He grunted, then looked down at the floor, his mouth twisted in a grimace. “I was thinking that we have a public falling out, dismiss any ideas that we are…close—” the grimace deepened, “—and then you go about your business. But I’d be watching…waiting.”
“So, I’d be bait?”
He nodded, then added, “I don’t like it, but I can’t think of any other way to get the traitor to reveal himself. And I wouldn’t let them get near you.”
“You think they’ll try again?”
“Yep. And soon. We don’t know what’s being planned, but I’m nearly one hundred percent sure they want you out of the way before it happens.”
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
“Babe, I’ve waited a long time to hear those words from your gorgeous lips. Sucks that they’re not begging me to—”
