by Celia Kyle
Zeke’s wolf eyes narrowed slightly, but he finally lumbered down the steps and moved out of her line of sight. As much fun as she was having messing with him, she gave him the privacy to do—or not do—whatever he pleased. She might have a mean streak, but she wasn’t cruel.
After a few minutes of watching Fang tear around the lawn like a maniac, Val decided a cup of coffee sounded pretty good. So did torturing her host.
“Okay, puppies, come!”
Zeke’s wolf wandered back into view, his head hanging low and his shoulders tense. Val had to literally bite her lip to stop herself from bursting out in laughter. Even looking at his downtrodden expression would have revealed the truth, so she kept her eyes on Fang. They followed along, Fang running circles around them both, no doubt excited about the delicious smells wafting out of the kitchen.
Her stomach growled as loud as a wolf as she entered the kitchen to find the man who’d arrested her the night before standing at the stove. The contrast between Officer Levi Walker, proud member of the Tremble Police Force, and the man with his hair sticking up in disarray, stirring a pan of eggs in a threadbare robe was nothing less than shocking. When he looked up and caught sight of her, he looked equally surprised.
When his gaze darted to Zeke’s wolf and then back to her, an idea sparked. A smile slowly lifted her lips as a plan to punish Zeke gelled into a thing of beauty.
Sashaying over to Levi, she gave him a sultry smile. “What’s cookin’, good lookin’,” she said in her sexiest voice and then leaned in low over the pan of eggs—far enough for her tank top to show off what her mama gave her—and took a deep whiff. “Mmm, smells delicious.” She dragged out the last S and bit her lip as she looked up at Levi from under her thick lashes.
Levi’s eyes grew wide, and a pink flush spread across his face. He seemed genuinely taken aback by her sudden flirtatiousness. His nervous gaze bounced between her and the wolf, unable to speak.
Well, shit. That was easier than I thought.
Valerie didn’t often tap into her “feminine wiles,” preferring a more direct approach. If a man piqued her interest, she’d simply invite him back to her place. None of this flirting nonsense. But in this case, it seemed to work wonders. The way Zeke’s wolf glared at Levi was priceless.
Time to pull out the big guns.
Stepping in so close their bodies almost touched, Val skimmed her finger down his muscular arm and sighed, almost coquettishly. “Wow, you must work out all the time.”
“Uh, well, um…” Levi stammered before finding his words. “I do. For my job. You know, as a cop.”
“Oh, I know,” she said, smiling up at him sinfully. “You arrested me yesterday.”
Levi chuckled and his blush deepened. Apparently, he’d completely forgotten about his alpha glowering at him from the doorway.
“I did, didn’t I? I’m sorry—”
“Oh, you were just doing your job,” Val’s voice was sticky sweet. “I don’t blame you at all. In fact—” she looked around as if she were making sure no one was listening in “—I have to confess, it was a little hot.”
She bit off the end of the word, baring her teeth and staring deeply into Levi’s confused eyes.
“I-it was?” he stuttered.
“Mmm hmmm,” she replied, licking her lips. “Throwing me in the back of your squad car? Handcuffing me? Putting me in a cage?” She closed her eyes and sighed softly. “I felt like such a bad girl. You know?”
Levi was entirely entranced by the way her fingers played with the strap keeping his robe closed. His interest in her was visible under the thin fabric, which skeeved her out something fierce. Strange, because he was a handsome enough guy. Someone she might be interested in for a purely physical encounter, but the idea of touching him any more than she already had repulsed her.
Thankfully, Zeke had apparently had enough of the display. He wedged himself between them and barked at Levi, who took a few steps back, picked up a cup of coffee and stared into it.
Mission accomplished!
“Bad dog,” Val scolded, wagging a finger in the wolf’s face. “Sit!” The wolf glared up at her, flecks of copper sparking in his angry gaze, but he finally obeyed her command. She smiled down at him and patted his head. “Good doggie.”
Levi choked and coffee spewed out of his nose. That couldn’t have felt good.
“Where do you keep your kibble?” Val asked, pretending she hadn’t noticed.
“Kibble?” Levi asked as he wiped coffee off his face and robe.
“You know, dog food,” she said brightly. “Fang needs her breakfast and this big guy is probably hungry too.”
Levi pressed his lips tight, probably to keep from laughing, and pointed to a tall cupboard. “Uh, third shelf down, way at the back.”
Val hummed a happy tune as she dug around until she found the bag and then poured two bowls—one small for Fang, one big-ass one for the wolf. Fang tore into hers like she hadn’t eaten in ten years while Zeke’s wolf stared at the unappetizing brown pellets. Finally, he glared up at her, then Levi, then the bowl, and finally back up at her.
Val almost felt bad for him. Almost. When he finally stalked out of the room with his head hanging low, she stifled a giggle. She’d probably crossed a line, but it was still pretty flipping funny. Of course, she couldn’t reveal she knew the score, so she coughed lightly to cover her amusement. Once Zeke had lumbered out of the kitchen, Levi sidled up next to her, far too close for her taste.
“So…” he said in what he probably thought was a suave tone, “are you…hungry?”
Oh god. Did he really think that was sexy? Maybe flirting with him to punish Zeke hadn’t been such a good idea after all. With a heavy sigh, she accepted the plate of burned eggs he offered her like a prize and wondered how a cop could be so easily manipulated.
Chapter Six
“Kibble!” Zeke groused as he yanked on some jeans, nearly ripping them in the process. He’d returned to his room before shifting, just in case Valerie had followed, but much to his regret, she’d apparently stayed in the kitchen.
With Levi.
Reaching for a shirt, he paused when he caught a glimpse of himself in the full-length mirror mounted on his closet door. The scruff on his jaw sat in that sweet middle ground between stubble and a very short beard. Raking his hands through his hair, he tamed it so it wasn’t sticking up in messy spikes but was mussed enough to suggest he didn’t care how it looked. Low-slung jeans showed off his toned abs, including that ridge just above each hip that formed an enticing V women seemed to love.
“Fuck it,” he muttered, ignoring the shirt and heading for the door in his bare feet. If a wolf didn’t get her attention, maybe his state of undress would.
It was ridiculous for him to feel insulted that Val had treated his wolf like a damn dog. She was just a dumb human, after all. Scratch that. Definitely not dumb. She was one of the brightest people—human or wolf—Zeke had ever met.
Then again, who mistakes an alpha wolf for a dog?
Padding into the kitchen, mentally prepared to pretend it was for the first time that morning, he stopped short in the doorway. Val sat at the large rectangular kitchen table, focused on a plate of eggs, while Levi sat far too close to her, their knees almost touching. Levi leaned toward her, smiling broadly, and apparently didn’t notice the way she leaned back, as far as she could. That didn’t make Zeke feel any better, though.
“Don’t you have to get to work, Levi?” Zeke growled, drawing a surprised look from Val. Levi glanced up at Zeke briefly and then did a double take when the fury in his alpha’s eyes registered in his tiny pea brain. The idiot actually shook his head.
“I’m not scheduled for another hour…”
Zeke let his upper lip pull back to show the enforcer his displeasure. The message finally penetrated, and Levi nodded frantically, understanding that immediate obedience was expected. Otherwise, the punishment would not be pleasant.
“Oh, uh, right,” Lev
i stammered, jumping up so fast his robe flapped open just long enough to give Zeke a full view of the man’s junk.
Ugh!
Levi covered up and hurried away from Zeke’s death glare, but that sent him out the back door, still wearing nothing but his robe. Once he was gone, Zeke, shook his head slowly and ran a hand over his face before looking back to Val.
The scent of her arousal hit him like a sledgehammer, making him as hard as a steel girder. It was fresh and had only emerged when he’d walked into the room. That stroked his ego in all the right ways. Just as he’d hoped, her eyes raked the length of him, taking in every bit of bare flesh—and lingering for a long moment somewhere just south of the middle—before meeting his gaze again.
His frown shifted into a knowing grin, but to his surprise, Val didn’t avert her gaze. Instead, one perfectly groomed eyebrow shot upward, her lush lips parted, and the pink tip of her tongue explored the corner of her mouth. Damn, keeping his hands off this sexy, confident human wasn’t going to be easy.
“Levi wasn’t bothering you, was he?” Zeke sauntered to the stove and, seeing the pan was empty, headed to the fridge for more eggs. “Sometimes guys around here like to forget their manners when a woman like you comes to town.”
Her laugh was rough and sweet at the same time. “Like me? What’s that mean?”
Zeke let his gaze rake over her, just as she’d done to him a moment before. “You know, a woman with a…fiery personality.”
Val rolled her eyes at the obvious half-truth. “Don’t worry, I can handle guys like Levi.” She took another bite of her food without breaking eye contact with him. “Not so sure about you, though.”
Good lord, she knew just how to appeal to his ego. The more she got under his skin, the harder it was to resist her charms. What the hell was he supposed to do with a knockout of a human flaunting herself around the pack house? Locking her in her room until Chloe appeared probably wasn’t an option, but he couldn’t have every unmated male in his pack sniffing after her.
Naturally, Zeke’s wolf was still convinced Val was their mate. It was still wild for her even though she’d humiliated the beast that morning. Zeke felt the strain of controlling his wolf as well as the strain from ignoring his attraction for her. She couldn’t possibly be his mate, but he certainly wouldn’t mind pretending for a few days. Of course, that would only confuse his wolf, so he’d have to deny himself the pleasure of exploring every one of her hard planes and soft curves.
Turning his attention to the stove, he took a few deep breaths to calm his frayed nerves. If he didn’t look directly at her, maybe he could survive until Chloe showed up to take her away.
“You know, in all the time Chloe and I lived together, she never mentioned you had some kind of crazy clubhouse where super-hot guys liked to congregate.” She leaned back in her chair as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “If she had, I might have visited sooner.”
Temptation, thy name is Valerie. Zeke shot her a quick glance and regretted it instantly. The sly smile on her perfect lips told him she knew exactly what she was doing—torturing him. Pretending as if he didn’t notice the hungry look in her eyes, Zeke diverted the conversation.
“I’m not surprised,” he said as he cracked an egg so hard on the counter that it smashed into a pile of shards and goo. “We weren’t her favorite people at that point in her life.”
“Huh.”
That wasn’t a “huh” someone gave when they’d received new information. It was the “huh” of someone who knew more about the situation than they wanted to let on. He chewed on that while he finished cooking his breakfast in silence.
“I can see how she’d pull away from you all after being treated like a piece of dog shit from your dad for so long,” she finally added.
Zeke froze. Chloe had roomed with this woman for four years, when pretty much everyone in her life had ostracized her. He’d always been on her side, but there wasn’t much anyone could do when the pack alpha made up his mind. Most of the pack had followed their father’s lead in how to treat Chloe, and when Zeke had become alpha, he’d worked hard to reverse everyone’s behavior. Unfortunately, no matter what he or they did, it didn’t erase the decades of neglect Chloe had suffered.
“She tell you that?” he asked as he took Levi’s seat. He kept his guard up because she was sneaky. She’d been trained to be, and it was pretty obvious she’d been holding on to that particular grenade for a while. Lord only knew what else she had up her sleeve.
Val looked at him like he was an idiot. “You think best friends don’t vent to each other about family shit every now and then? By the sound of things, she wasn’t getting support from the people who should have given it the most.”
Zeke scrubbed a hand over his almost-beard. “I haven’t had my coffee yet, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d think that was a shot at me.”
“That so?” she said, giving him a challenging smirk. “Interesting.”
He’d never been so conflicted over a woman before, especially not a human woman. His guilt over Chloe’s treatment by their father still gnawed at him, even though she’d forgiven him, so naturally he felt defensive. At the same time, he was grateful she’d met such a fiercely loyal friend at a time when she needed one the most.
“I’m not my father,” he finally said, frantically searching for some way to explain pack hierarchy without revealing the “pack” part. “He was… old school. Shit, maybe that’s just an excuse. It was hard to know the man and why he acted the way he did. All I can really say is, at the time, things worked a little differently in Tremble.”
“That so?” she said again, as if nothing could explain away Chloe’s pain.
“Dad was sort of a big deal around here. Respected. A leader.”
Val rolled her eyes. “I figured that much out on my own. I suppose next you’re going to tell me that everyone who snubbed a young girl was just following orders?”
“It’s not like that, exactly. It’s complicated. He may have been old-fashioned, but he also did a lot of good for the people of the town. They respected him and, for good or bad, followed his lead. All I can tell you is that as much as I loved my father, I’m not like him.”
Val sniffed as she pushed her plate away. “Sounds like you’re all a bunch of pussies to me.”
Rage and shame duked it out inside Zeke’s gut. The eggs on his plate held no interest anymore. He wanted to argue with her, but at the same time she had a point. Which pissed him off even more.
Pushing his chair back, Zeke stood over her, ready to show her the meaning of “pussy” and exactly what he wanted to do to hers, when his phone rang. Dammit!
“What!” he barked into the device.
“Bad time, boss?”
Next to Newman, Rich was one of Zeke’s best sentries. As a security guard at City Hall, he kept Zeke abreast of the goings-on in Tremble’s city government. If he was calling this early in the morning, the news couldn’t be good. Zeke rubbed the throbbing vein in his temple and did his best to modulate his tone.
“No. What’s up?”
“Got a situation down here. Mayor Calhoun is meeting with some land developers at eleven. Says they’re gonna sign a deal for a big chunk of Wolf Woods.”
The world around him disappeared in a haze of red. “The hell he is! No way am I letting some piece of shit human sell off our territory! I’ll be there in ten.”
He nearly smashed the phone into the far wall, but somehow managed to hold on to his temper long enough to turn it off and cram it in his back pocket. Fucking Calhoun! Zeke should have seen it coming, but he’d been too distracted with everything that had gone down in the last year.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, a sure sign he was being watched. Spinning around, he met Valerie’s steely scowl.
“Just so you know,” she snarled, standing slowly and never breaking eye contact, “not all humans are pieces of shit.”
Shit.
Without anoth
er word, she stomped out of the kitchen, leaving Zeke to stare after her—mouth agape and heart thundering—Fang in her wake. The tiny pooch followed as far as the doorway before turning back to give Zeke a forlorn whimper. Then she trotted after her mistress.
Zeke stared after them, feeling totally gobsmacked. What had he just done? “Shit.”
Chapter Seven
Tendrils of anger wound around Valerie’s body so tightly she felt almost swaddled by it, cocooned inside her own righteous temper. No amount of pacing her room seemed to be easing her fury over the way Zeke had insulted her entire species. No matter what she did with her arms—planting her hands on her hips, crossing them, punching the air where she imagined his face—nothing felt right. It didn’t take a mind reader to know he was just venting, but the diss had pissed her off.
The strange animal magnetism that cracked and sparked between them like a downed electrical wire carried some pretty heavy emotions. Val didn’t care much for any emotion that wasn’t anger, it seemed. Especially since Afghanistan. The worst part was that it wasn’t all Zeke’s fault. Not even most of it, if she was being honest.
The only reason she’d even driven to Tremble was because her CO had insisted she take some leave to work out her anger issues. Everything pissed her off, not just Zeke and his irrational dislike for humans. In fact, humans had been pissing her off plenty recently.
Only… it wasn’t really anger, exactly. A deep, abiding rage constantly simmered just under the surface, waiting for any chance to explode in a white-hot geyser of fury.
Add to that the frustrating fact she couldn’t chew Zeke’s ass out, as she so badly wanted, because she didn’t dare let it slip that Chloe had broken some random werewolf law. No way, no how would she ever put her best friend’s life or safety or maybe just reputation in jeopardy. Their secret must remain safely tucked away, even if she wanted to bash the fact over Zeke’s head.
A soft whimper sounded from the bed. Fang sat smack in the middle, staring at her with as worried an expression as a dog could muster. As soon as Val turned to her, the little vamp rolled onto her back, exposing her soft tummy for pets and scratches. With a heavy sigh, Val did as her canine overlord commanded.